The Co-operation andAssistance Aspects during
Spills of International
Significance (SOIS)
Preparedness for Major Oil Spill Incident
7-8 March 2012, Tokyo, Japan
Bernd Bluhm
Head of Unit
Pollution Preparedness and Response
European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)

Background:• Post Erika(2002: EMSA established,started in 2003)
2• Post Prestige(2004: new Task Marine Pollution
Preparedness & Response)• Multi Annual Funding APM(2007 – 2013 with a budget of 154
Million Euro)Objectives of EMSA
Within the fields of maritime safety, pollution prevention fromships and ship security, EMSA has the following main
objectives:•To ensure the proper implementation of EU maritime
legislation by Member States•

To foster technical cooperation and development anddisseminate best practice•

To provide technical advice to the European Commissionand Member States•

To provide assistance to top-up European Member
States’ capabilities for oil pollution response3

Assistance provided during Deepwater Horizon(DWH) or Macondo Incident, Gulf of Mexico• Numerous equipment and expertise offered from aroundthe Globe to assist US Administration and BP• Also offers from the European States including EMSA tothe US Administration resulted later in request from USA• EMSA offered:- up to 3 fully equipped oil recovery vessels- equipment package including booms and skimmers• US Coast Guard (USCG) evaluated all offers received andthen accepted as appropriate

4Vessels offered to USCG as an assistance toresponse to DWH/Macondo Incident
Response Equipment
Sweeping Arms
•Type: Rigid•Length: 15 m
•Skimmer: Weir/BrushBoomDESMI TARANTULA•Type: Heavy duty single point inflation•Length: 2 x 250 mSkimmer

M/T Sara
Ship Particulars•Type: Weir/Brush/DiscSlick Detection Radar

Vessel Type:Oil Tanker

Storage Capacity:

6658 m3

Length:111.30 m

Breadth:

16.50 mDraught:

7.00 mHeating Capacity:

2394 kW

Pumping Capacity:

2550 m³/h

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Equipment offered to USCG as an assistance toresponse to DWH/Macondo Incident• 2 x Framo Transrec 150 Skimmer with Hi-wax and weir heads• 2 x Desmi Tarantula skimmer with weir, brush/disc heads
FRAMO TRANSREC 150

DESMI TARANTULA
6

Equipment offered to USCG as an assistance toresponse to DWH/Macondo Incident (2)1000 m heavy duty offshore oil booms:•2 x 250 m Ro-boom with air blower and power pack•2 x 250 m LAMOR boom with air blower and power pack
RO-BOOMLAMOR BOOM

7

Major Challenges (1)1. Offers/Requests very often did not correspond to theactual need
2. A clear and commonly agreed terminology about theequipment and methods must be established
3. Political, commercial and public pressure needs to beconsidered
4. Different methods of assistance like free of charge, rentingor ’’old for new’’8Major Challenges (2)5. Various channels of requests and offers
6. Common standards/certificates regarding technical andoperational issues
7. Compatibility of the equipment (especially theconnections) when working in combined strike teams
8. Documentation and maintenance/operation log books
needed9

New Initiative regarding InternationalAssistance in case of Major Oil Spills•

DWH demonstrated the enormous challenge of responding
to an uncontrolled oil discharge in an open oceanenvironment•

Highlighted importance of planning and coordination priorto incidents•

Need to prepare for international offers of assistance•Procedures for requesting and receiving assistance were
cumbersome and inefficient

10International Assistance (2)Scoping the problem:•Meeting of international experts during 2011 IOPC
conference•Participants discussed existing agreements and guidelines
and expressed desire to stay engaged in this subject•Correspondence Group was established:− US Coast Guard, US Department of State− Canadian Coast Guard− IMO− EMSA− OSRL11

International Assistance (3)•Submission to task IMO MEPC OPRC-HNS Technical Groupto take on work to develop Guidelines•MEPC 62 accepts in July 2011

•Correspondence Group begins work:− Drafting of 3 papers (to be merged before submissionto TG 13) by 3 sub-groups:

“Capstone” paper (introduction of project)Equipment and Inventory paperPractical Parameters and Operating Procedures− Submission of joint paper to TG 13 for discussion atIMO 5-9 March 201212

International Assistance (4)Expected future work and deliverables:•If TG 13 accepts proposal, correspondence group (hope-fullywith more participants from other regions) will begin work todevelop Guidelines for International Offers of Assistance•The final product should be a set of mutually agreed
guidelines and will include:− A global inventory of major oil spill response
equipment (this should use existing inventories)− Guidelines for the request, receipt and offering ofinternational assistance•It is intended to complete this work in 201313

The Systems of Co-operation in Europe
3 Levels of Co-operation/assistance between States are
currently available:•Bi- and tri-lateral agreements (sub-regional level)−between neighbouring States•Regional Agreements (regional level)−between States adjoining the same sea area
•EMSA (Pan-European level)−for all EU Member States and ENP Countries

14Bi- and Tri- lateral Agreements in Europe•

A number of bi- and tri- lateral (sub-regional) agreements
in Europe, for example:– Latvia, Russia and Poland for the South-eastern partof the Baltic– SWEDENGER (Sweden, Denmark and Germany)– DENGERNETH (Denmark, Germany and theNetherlands)•

One country is a party to more than one agreement,
e.g. France is a contracting party to:– the Anglo-French Manche Plan for the Channel– the Franco-Spanish Biscay Plan for the Bay of Biscay– the Franco-Spanish Lion Plan for the Gulf of Lion15

Helsinki Convention (HELCOM)The Helsinki
Convention on theprotection of themarine environment
for the Baltic Sea
www.helcom.fi
16Bonn Agreement
The Bonn Agreement
for cooperation interms of oil pollution
response in the
North Sea
bonnagreement.org
17

Lisbon Agreement
The Lisbon Agreement
for the protection of thenorth-east Atlantic
against pollution
lisbonagreement.org

18

Barcelona Convention (REMPEC)
The Barcelona
Convention for theprotection of theMediterranean Sea
www.rempec.org

19Bucharest Convention
The Bucharest
Convention on theprotection of theBlack Sea against
pollutionwww.blackseacommission.org
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Regional Agreements in Europe (2)Helsinki
Convention

Bucharest Convention

RussiaGeorgia
TurkeyUkraineLithuania
PolandEU / EMSA

Denmark
Germany
SwedenBulgaria
Romania

CyprusGreeceItaly
Malta
Slovenia

Albania
Algeria
BosniaLebanon
Herzegovina Libya
Croatia
MonacoEgypt
Syria
IsraelTunisia
TurkeyEstonia
Finland Latvia

Ireland

Belgium
Netherlands
United Kingdom

Bonn
Agreement

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NorwayFranceSpain

Portugal
MoroccoLisbonAgreement
Barcelona Convention(Not in force)Procedures developed within the bi- andtrilateral or Regional Agreements• Response or Counter Pollution
Manuals or Guidelines are published• PolRep System with PolInf, PolWarn
and PolFac is fully implemented• Various chapters are dedicated toassistance, operational control,reimbursement etc.
• Regular annual notification oroperational exercises with different
parties involved

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European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA)EMSA is providing the Pan-European support with:•Network of Stand-by Oil Spill Recovery Vessels– 16 equipped vessels along the European coastline– 19 offshore boom sets with 500 m each
– 3 High capacity multi-skimmers with 200/400 m3/h
– 18 offshore skimmers with 125 m3/h
•Expert Service•CleanSeaNet Service (satellite imagery)•MAR-ICE

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Thank youfor your attention
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Further information:
http://www.emsa.europa.eu/operations/marine-pollution/networkof-stand-by-oil-spill-response-vessels.html