The version for the print

  • 2008 August 13

    Every SPORT to its taste

    In March 2008, a joint project was launched by the Committee of Natural Resources, Environment and Ecological Safety of Saint Petersburg Government and Kotka Maritime Research Centre (KMRC, Finland). The project is aimed at creation of a center to train personnel for oil pollution recovery.

    At the starting line

    Russia has never had any institute for personnel training in this sphere. International project known as Saint Petersburg Oil Recovery Training centre (SPORT) is targeted at the management of seaport administrations, shipping companies, Emergency Ministry and other organizations, the activities of which are related to recovery of oil spills in the North-West region. Theoretical practice is to be held on the basis of the Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy, practical training is to be arranged in the center itself. As PortNews IAA learnt from Igor Berezin, Head of Department for Oversight of Environment Protection Activities at the Committee of Natural Resources, Environment and Ecological Safety of Saint Petersburg Government, there is a special program developed by the Ministry of Transport and approved by the North-West Department of the Emergency Ministry for arrangement of theoretical practice. “The base necessary for theoretical practice is available at the Makarov Academy.”

    The practical training center will be built by September 2009 at Okhta in St. Petersburg. The territory including the plots of coastal strip, cleaning system and classrooms is to cover about 50x20 meters. The area of a semi-cold pool (winter temperature above 0°С) is to make 10x17 meters.

    According to Terhi Lindholm, coordinator of SPORT project, representative of Kotka Maritime Research Centre, the project’s feasibility study included a number of study trips to similar centers, selection of necessary equipment for work. French center Cedre (Brest), combining education, research and experiments, was taken as a basis for St. Petersburg center. “I think some research elements in reduced form though should be taken into account in our specifications for creation of St. Petersburg center,” Berezin said.

    Short of response teams

    As of today, the activities of some 2,900 organizations operating in the North West region are related to oil products. Approximately 800 of them are in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad region. According to the Resolution of the RF Government No 613 dated August 21, 2000

    “On Immediate Actions on Oil Spill Prevention and Response” (rev. Resolution of the RF Government No 240 dated 15.04.2002) all of them should either conclude agreements with professional ecological companies for emergency alert or have their own emergency response teams. Meanwhile, the requirements to professional and volunteer emergency response teams are almost the same. Actually, only half of organizations (1,481) have an approved and coordinated Oil Spill Response Plans.

    In the North West region there are 474 emergency response teams including 13 in St. Petersburg and 7 regional emergency response teams. Thus, there is one emergency response team for about 40 organizations. “Today we keep the way leading to formation of emergency response teams,” Aleksei Orekhov, head of educational programs for the Makarov Academy’s Training Center, says. “It means that we in our turn should be able to ensure personnel training. There is only one difference between professional and volunteer emergency response teams. Professional teams are responsible exclusively for emergency alert like subdivisions of the State Sea Rescue Service of the RF Ministry of Transport or bodies formed by the RF Emergency Ministry, as well as private professional companies. As for volunteer teams, they may have additional functions apart from emergency response activities,” Orekhov told.  

    Potential threat

    When calculating the parameters of the yet-to-be-built training center, the project experts took into account lots of factors including potential threat of oil spills, the number of which increases at the Baltic sea from year to year. According to the official statistics of St. Petersburg Seaport Administration, there were 30 oil spills in 2007, which exceeds the levels of the previous years. In 2006, emergency services registered 17 oil spills, in 2005 - 10 oil spills. The number of oil spills grows mainly due to the growing number of calls – 29,257 calls in 2007 (+10%, year-on-year). Experts forecast further annual increase of calls. The port of St. Petersburg will raise its throughput due to expansion of the maritime canal which is to entail more calls, PortNews IAA learnt from Ludmila Filatova, deputy head of subdivision for supervision at sea, continental shelf and marine operations of RosPrirodNadzor Department for the North West federal district. “Besides, we should take into account the development of ports in the Leningrad region. In particular, the port of Ust-Luga was initially designed for handling 35 million tonnes of cargo per year but then the plans were revised to raise the planned throughput to 120 million tonnes. It certainly contributes to the increase in the number of calls.”

    As for the entire Baltic Sea, HELCOM (Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission) reports there are about 1,800 - 2,000 ships in the Baltic marine area at any given moment. All of them present a potential risk. According to RosPrirodNadzor (Russia’s nature supervision watchdog), the figure will grow further. 

    Oil spill response activities at the Baltic Sea and at the Finnish coast in particular, are complicated with an odd-shaped coastline and lots of shallow areas. As Igor Berezin noted, the length of Finnish line is equal to 1.5 equators so it is important to localize oil spills in the open water before it nears the shore.

    As of today, 15 multi-purpose oil-spill response vessels are on duty at the Finnish coast. In case of emergency they are guided by coastguard surveillance airplanes. However, the available facilities will be not sufficient in case of a large-scale emergency. According to Kalervo Jolma, expert of Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), in case of an emergency situation in the open sea oil spill should be recovered within the 24-hour period and completely liquidated within 3 days. In ice conditions oil spill should be recovered within the 3 days and completely liquidated within 9-10 days. According to Mr. Kalervo’s estimations, to bring the fleet into conformity with possible emergencies, the Gulf of Finland needs 7 more oil-spill response vessels. “By 2015 Finland is likely to get one or two more oil-spill response vessels. Besides, our neighbors will probably launch three or four vessels of this type,” Mr. Kalervo thinks.

    Complicated scenarios

    Among possible oil spill scenarios considered by SPORT project participants the most complicated ones in terms of response are those which may occur in ice conditions and on the coast. According to the project expert, representative of Finnish Environment Institute Kari Lampela, collection of oil products in winter is more difficult due to a number of factors. In particular, it is low temperature raising viscosity of crude and oil products and the necessity to use ice-class vessels. Moreover, according to the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (environmental strategy for the protection of the Baltic Sea signed in 2007), biometric measures are recommended for oil spill recovery, that are response measures excluding burning or chemical treatment. Kari Lampela says the priority measure of oil spill recovery is mechanical collection though it does not ensure 100-percent cleaning.

    However, maximal damage is caused by oil spills occurring within costal zone. They are also the most costly. As Tatiana Presnyakova, Director General of Marine Ecology LLC, notes, all accidents occurring in the open sea finally reach the shore. “In case of oil spill in the Gulf of Finland it will take three hours for it to appear within a 3-meter isobathic line according to TSNII MF,” Presnyakova says. Operations within shallow-water area involve both technical means and organizational arrangements. Though the company meets the requirements to technical means, there is a problem of cooperation between different authorities in the North West region, Presnyakova notes. “In case of emergency we will have to cooperate with HELCOM as I do not see any other companies,” she says. “We will have to join our efforts for exercise and system practices so that we could work efficiently in case of disaster”.

    Comments

    Igor Berezin, Head of Department for Oversight of Environment Protection Activities at the Committee of Natural Resources, Environment and Ecological Safety of Saint Petersburg Government:

    - Jointly with the Admiral Makarov State Maritime Academy we plan to create a system for practical training of personnel responsible for oil spill recovery. The base necessary for theoretical practice according to program developed by the Ministry of Transport is available at the Makarov Academy already. Practical training raises much more questions as it does not exist in Russia today. We lay emphasis on international cooperation in our work. Our foreign colleagues are well experienced in this so the training should meet all the requirements. For our country being an oil producing nation, practical training of oil spill response personnel is especially urgent today.

    Kalervo Jolma, expert of Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE):

    - Transportation of crude and oil products grows from year to year. At the same time, large tankers work in shallow waters and the threat of incident is permanent regardless tankers’ equipment designed for ice conditions. So we should be prepared to both large disasters and small incidents. To imagine what can happen it is necessary to develop a scenario which takes oil spill recovery experience. This scenario should reflect what we may encounter in reality, how large it may be, what size and what direction oil spill may take in a variety of conditions.

    Tatiana Presnyakova, Director General of Marine Ecology LLC:

    - Our 10-year experience of operation at the market environmental services enables us to master any problem arising in this sphere. For example, floating rubbish hinders collecting of oil as it may paralyze operation of any oil collecting equipment. Thus, our first activities are aimed at collecting of oil contaminated rubbish – fragments of boards and ropes, polyethylene etc. Only then oil-collecting vessel enters the area of oil spill.

    Another problem is thickened heavy fuel oil. We have learnt to work with such a product through heating heavy fuel oil with application of high-pressure hot-flush devices.

    The vessels we use for collecting of oil and placing of booms are fitted with threshold devices and 1.5m3 reservoirs. This project is a success. Such vessels may collect both light and thickened oil products from the water surface. Percentage of water is very low in oily mixture collected – it does not exceed 15%. For quick discharge of oil products from oil-collecting vessel we apply accepting vessels fitted with vacuum units as well as vacuum truck-tankers operating from the berths. We have developed our own system of prompt collecting of oil and discharge of oil products from oil-collecting vessel. It enables us to fulfill oil spill response activities very quickly.

    As a rule, our cleanup activities also include cleaning of a coastline, washing of berths and vessel’s sides. For that purpose we have acquired special washing equipment. We also have 3,200 meters of booms, automotive equipment and high-pressure hot-flush devices.

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