Major national oil spill exercise hosted by Port of Dover
Oil spill specialists will be heading for the Dover seafront this month to test their antipollution kit and trial their latest emergency procedures as part of a national contingency exercise, the company said in its press release.
The experts - from Oil Spill Response Ltd, Adler and Alan, Kent Resilience and the Port - will set up mobile incident facilities on the beach and deploy booms offshore to contain the imaginary slick. They will also have vessels and equipment simulating oil skimming from the surface of the water while shore teams perfect their beach decontamination skills.
In addition, the team plans to carry out SCAT (Shoreline Clean-up and Assessment Technique) surveys between Folkestone and St Margaret’s, charting the extent of possible contamination from the fictional spill.
Gabriel Gyamfi, from Oil Spill Response, said: “The exercise location will provide different challenges and tasks on unfamiliar turf for many of the parties involved. It will give us an opportunity to practise with the very latest equipment and will include elements of planning, shoreline and dockside operations.
“It will test the ability of various organisations to collaborate effectively to a potential major incident.”
The exercise, dubbed ‘White Cliff’, will run from November 16 to 18, with part of the scenario played out close to the Port’s Tug Haven, and part in the vicinity of the slipway on Dover seafront.
Large inflatable Incident Command tents will be mounted, and teams of specialists in full protective clothing will set up decontamination zones as well as temporary storage areas where water will be pumped from the skimming process.
