BALEX DELTA 2004 – HELCOM to hold its annual international oil spill response exercise

11 ships, several smaller vessels from the Baltic Sea countries will participate in BALEX DELTA 2004 - HELCOM´s international oil spill response exercise to be held in Warnemunde, Germany, on 26th August 2004.

The aim of the exercise is to check the Baltic Sea countries readiness to respond to major oil accidents at sea. Particularly, the BALEX DELTA 2004 is to test the alarm procedure, the response capability, the response time and the co-operation between response units of Baltic Sea States.

BALEX DELTA 2004 will take place in the Gulf of Mecklenburg outside Warnemunde.

According to the scenario of the exercise a Ro-Ro Ship collides with an oil tanker having a cargo of around 120 000 tons of crude oil REB (Russian Export Blend) class in the area of Kadetrinne. Besides cargo the oil tanker has some 6.000 tons of heavy fuel oil and 150 tons of marine diesel oil as bunker. After collision the oil tanker leaks 2.000 tons of cargo drifting towards German coastline. German and units from other HELCOM countries are tasked jointly to prevent the oil slick go ashore. To simulate a large oil spill foam will be used. This is a safe, natural protein product which does not pose any threat to the marine environment. German Navy tug will be used to simulate the casualty oil tanker.

This year the host of HELCOM annual exercise is Germany. It is organized by the German Central Command for Maritime Emergencies (CCME): Havariekommando. Germany will start BALEX DELTA 2004 as a national exercise already on 25th August. The exercise will serve also as an exercise of the trilateral agreement between Germany, Denmark and Sweden, as well as of the bilateral agreement between Germany and Poland.

Response vessels from 6 Baltic Sea countries (Denmark, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden) will participate in this years exercise. And 11 official observers from Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Sweden and HELCOM Secretariat have registered to the exercise.

BALEX DELTA oil spill response exercises have been held annually since 1990. 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 Baltic Sea. They are able to reach any place in the Baltic Sea within six hours.

Contacts

HELCOM Secretariat

Mr Nikolay Vlasov
Information Secretary
Tel: +358 9 6220 2235
Fax: +358 9 6220 2239