Oil Spill Risk Management
Are we prepared for a major oil spill in
the Baltic Sea?
Bernt Stedt, HELCOM RESPONSE Chair
24 March 2011, Stockholm
-
Contents:
The Baltic Sea
Regional cooperation through HELCOM
Proven preparedness in the Baltic
BRISK/BRISK-RU risk assessment
Main concerns for the Baltic Sea
• Eutrophication
• Pollution by hazardous
substances
• Maritime activities
• Loss of biological diversity
Maritime traffic
Amount of oil turnover in the largest Baltic oil
terminals
300.0
Million tonnes
• 2000 ships at any given
moment
• In 2009, vessels entered
or left the Baltic Sea via
Skaw 62,743 times increase by 20% since
2006
• 21% of those ships were
tankers
• Also heavy ship traffic
through a Kiel Canal –
30,314 ships
• The strongest growth in
shipment of oil - from
the Gulf of Finland
250.0
200.0
150.0
203.5
137.7
108.1 122.8
245.3 251.4
221.2 233.7
162.4 170.3
100.0
50.0
0.0
1997 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Shipping accidents
In 2009:
• 105 shipping
accidents
• Groundings (36%)
and collissions (32%)
are the most
common
• Human factor is the
main cause of
accidents
• 5 accidents resulted
in oil spills
HELCOM
• Helsinki Commission
(HELCOM) International cooperation since 1974
(new Convention
signed in 1992)
• Main task: to protect
the marine
environment of the
Baltic Sea from all
sources of pollution
• 10 Contracting
Parties (9 Baltic Sea
Coastal States and
the EU)
• Secretariat located in
Helsinki, Finland
Proven preparedness to respond to
pollution incidents in the Baltic
•
HELCOM Response Group co-ordinates the work
•
A number of HELCOM Recommendations covering:
−
response to spills of oil or hazardous substances at sea, from
offshore units and oil terminals
−
requirements on emergency and response capacity
−
airborne surveillance
−
restricted use of dispersants
−
development and use of drift forecasting systems
•
HELCOM Response Manual (Vol. I Oil + Vol. II Hazardous
Substances)
−
Reporting procedures
−
Requesting and providing assistance
−
Command structure and communication during operation
−
Oil sampling
−
Co-operation on aerial surveillance
Existing emergency and response
capacity
• A high number of
emergency and sea-going
response vessels,
including 3 chartered by
European Maritime Safety
Agency
• New vessels to be built in
coming years
• Satellite and aerial
surveillance
• Oil drft forecasting tools
(HELCOM Seatrack Web)
Aerial surveillance in the Baltic
• Co-ordinated regular surveillance
activties in the whole Baltic
• Efficiency - development and
improvement of the existing remote
sensing systems
• Satellite surveillance in co-operation
with EMSA
• CEPCO and
Super CEPCO
Flights
• Annual reports
to HELCOM for
evaluation
Regular exercises
• National and bilateral operational
exercises involving response units
• International operational exercises with participation
of all Baltic Sea States (BALEX DELTA)
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
Denmark: 7 countries, 11 ships, 2 aircraft
Latvia: 6 countries, 18 ships, 2 aircraft
Finland: 5 countries, 16 ships
Germany: 6 countries, 11 ships, 1 aircraft
Sweden: 7 countries, 19 ships, 2 aircraft
Poland: 7 countries + EMSA, 23 ships, 3 aircraft
Estonia: 6 countries + EMSA, 17 ships, 1 helicopter
Russia: 6 countries, EMSA, 17 ships, 2 helicopters
Latvia: 5 countries + EMSA, 9 ships
Klaipeda: 7 countries + EMSA, 8 vessels
• Main objective - every Contracting Party should be
able to command a major response operation
Major accidental oil pollution
• 1990 ”Volgoneft” 700-800 t. of waste oil
– 5 countries; more than 20 ships
– nearly all oil recovered at sea
• 2001 “Baltic Carrier” 2700 t. of oil
– 3 countries
– around 50% of oil recovered from the water
• 2003 “Fu Shan Hai” 1200 t. of fuel oil
– 3 countries
– around 1100 tonnes of oil recovered at sea
HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan
• Adopted on 15 November
2007 in Krakow, Poland
• Regional programme of
measures aimed at
obtaining a healthy Baltic
Sea, including in the
response field e.g.:
- 2010 Mutual Plan for Places of
Refuge – approach beyond
national borders
- Strengthened regional
cooperation on shoreline and
oiled wildlife response
BSAP - Strenthening of sub-regional
co-operation in response field
•
•
Contracting Parties agreed are to:
1.
assess the risk of oil and chemical pollution and
2.
review emergency and response resources on sub-regional
basis in order to ensure sufficient resources to effectively
respond to ”medium size” pollution or to control a large scale
pollution of the sea
Launch of the BRISK and BRISK–RU projects
- BRISK under the EU’s Baltic Sea Region Programme 2007-2013
(EUR 2.5 mil. allocated from the European Regional Development
Fund)
- BRISK-RU financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers
- Implementation under umbrella of HELCOM Response Group
Part-financed by EU (European
Regional Development Fund)
BRISK/BRISK-RU activities
2009-2012
• First overall risk assessment of pollution caused by shipping
accidents covering the whole Baltic Sea area based on a
common methodology
– Recognizes the areas with highest risk for oil spills and
environmental damage
• Identification of missing response resources needed to
effectively tackle major spills of oil and hazardous substances
• Preparation of pre-investment plans on how the countries can
jointly improve preparedness
– A joint pool of vessels and equipment for each sub-region
– Countries can share the investment burden in a costeffective way
• Development of agreements between neighboring countries
for joint response operations
Conclusions
• Cooperation on response to pollution from
ships in the Baltic Sea well established
• Past shipping accidents in the Baltic Sea
proved that the regional procedures in place
are functioning
• The BRISK/BRISK-RU risk assessment will
provide the basis for the decision on the
needed investments in response resources
• The final results of the risk assessment will
be presented on 18/20 May in Gdansk,
Poland (European Maritime Day)
Thank you!
For more information please contact:
Helsinki Commission
(HELCOM)
Katajanokanlaituri 6 B
FI-00160 Helsinki
Finland
www.helcom.fi