Vitali Taks, reviewer of Morskiye Vesti Last Tuesday, Ecology board of Marine Council held a meeting in “Oil Club” to consider activities of the companies, which are essential for St. Petersburg safety. One of problems, urgent for companies specializing in oil spill response activities, is imbalance between real life and documents. As of today, only one company has a complete package of documents while other companies cannot work though they sometimes have more powerful equipment! In general, the situation with oil transit by the Neva river and with services provided by bunkering companies is far from being in order. Roman Balluev, acting head of RosPrirodNadzor North-West department From January of the current year there were 17 oil spills – this is a number of cases with a party to blame found! On the average, we have two oil spills per month. The peak was registered in May and June with four spills per month. The analysis shows, that personnel is responsible for 16 incidents with crews violating the instructions. During navigation period tens of large sea-and-river going vessels go along the Neva every night. At leastseveral of them carry oil products. One more side of the problem is bunkering. Many of vessels wait for hours and sometimes for days before they can enter the Neva. Of course, it is the best moment for bunkering operations. However there no specialized places at the Neva! Thus bunkering companies have to violate the law and fill vessels at the anchorage with violation of safety rules. Igor Berezin, head of department for control of environment work,
Committee for management of natural resources. In the majority of cases the source of oil spills is unknown. However there are two major factors causing minor spills – discharge by sewage and discharge of bilge waters by vessels. Equipment needed for oil spill response activities is very expensive. It is not profitable for private companies so the state is to bear the costs of oil spill emergency alert. Besides, it is important to find a solution for oil tank farms. One tank farm would be enough to supply vessels at the Neva. The issues discussed at the meeting are a priority for our city. According to Mr. Rodionov, Chairman of Ecology board of Marine Council under St. Petersburg Government, “we speak about the city safety rather than about separate companies.” Tens of ships including tankers go along the Neva while there are no bunkering bases at the river. The best solution is to provide bunker at the place, where lots of vessels are accumulated and bunkering companies undertake violations when providing their services at places having no required systems. One of such places is Pontonnoje, where vessels wait their turn to pass the Neva under drawn bridges.
