HELCOM fleet drills response actions in a simulated massive oil spill accident off Gdynia

Gdynia, 8 September (HELCOM) – A fleet of oil-combating ships from the Baltic Sea countries joined under HELCOM’s flag tested its capabilities to deal with a massive oil spill during the Helsinki Commission’s annual international pollution response exercise BALEX DELTA, held off Gdynia, Poland, on 6 September.

This year up to 23 ships and smaller vessels, as well as three airplanes, from Denmark, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Sweden took part in HELCOM’s operational exercise to check the Baltic Sea countries’ readiness to jointly respond to major oil accidents at sea.

It was the first time the European Union which is also one of the HELCOM Contracting Parties participated in BALEX DELTA. The EU was represented by two vessels chartered by the European Maritime Safety Agency.

“The exercise was successful” says Thomas Fagö, Chairman of the HELCOM Response Group. “All task forces displayed exceptional performance working under one command. The results of the exercise show our growing capability to jointly and effectively deal with major oil spill accidents in the Baltic Sea region.”

BALEX DELTA 2006 was organized by the Polish Maritime Search and Rescue Service.

The exercise involved a scenario where a general cargo vessel collided with an oil tanker carrying a cargo of around 30,000 tons of light crude oil in the area of the Gulf of Gdansk. Besides its cargo, the oil tanker also had some 1,200 tons of heavy fuel oil and 120 tons of marine diesel oil as bunker. After the collision the oil tanker had supposedly leaked around 6,000 – 8,000 tons of oil cargo, which was assumed to be drifting towards the Polish and Russian coastline. Units from HELCOM countries were tasked to jointly prevent the oil slick from coming ashore.

This year, to simulate discharged oil a completely new substance was introduced. Instead of “traditional” popcorn, simulating oil spills, expanded perlite was used. It is a mineral substance several times lighter than water, white coloured and very well visible on the water surface. It is absolutely non harmful to the environment. Perlite is a naturally occurring glassy volcanic rock found in many parts of the world. It is heated to a high temperature to produce a lightweight, micro-porous material with a high surface area. The concept to use this material to simulate oil spills has been developed by the Chemical Faculty of the Gdansk University of Technology and the Polish Maritime Search and Rescue Service.

BALEX DELTA operational response exercises have been held annually since 1989. Through the time HELCOM has steadily improved the readiness of the countries around the Baltic to jointly respond to an oil spill at sea. In total, the Baltic countries have at hand more than 30 response vessels that are located around the region. They are able to reach any place in the Baltic Sea within 6 to 48 hours of notification.

Note to Editors: 

The Helsinki Commission, or HELCOM, works to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution through intergovernmental co-operation between the countries bordering the sea - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden, and also the European Community.  

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," more usually known as the Helsinki Convention.

For more information, please contact:

Mr. Thomas Fagö

Chairman of HELCOM RESPONSE

Tel: +46 (455) 353455

E-mail: thomas.fago@coastguard.se  

Mr. Tadas Navickas

Professional Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)207 412 642

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail:  tadas.navickas@helcom.fi

Mr. Nikolay Vlasov

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)207 412 635

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 639

E-mail: nikolay.vlasov@helcom.fi