Baltic countries mull new shipping traffic control system
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in Vilnius Wednesday that countries in northern Europe needed to consider how they can cope with a major environmental disaster such as the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
"What will happen if we have this sort of environmental disaster we have seen in the Gulf of Mexico but in the Baltic Sea?" Barroso asked a panel at the Baltic Development Forum in the Lithuanian capital.
Panel representatives included the prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Finand and Estonia.
Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen responded by calling for action on developing an airline-style control system for ships operating in Baltic waters to ensure higher levels of safety.
"If we get a massive accident of oil or chemicals we don't have enough capacity to collect the spill," Vanhanen said. "Many of our countries are building capacity, but it will take years, so it is even more important to build a system that can prevent these acidents."
At the Baltic Sea States Summit taking place a few minutes later at another location in Vilnius, Vanhanen suggested that all ships operating in the Baltic should be tracked just as airliners are overseen by air traffic control.
"All the big vessels should somehow inform and plan with a coordinated system because around half of all accidents happen as a result of human mistakes," Vanhanen said.
The technology already exists to implement a Baltic-wide tracking system, and a time frame of "around two years" to set it up is realistic, Vanhanen told the German news agency dpa.
Other topics discussed at the Baltic Sea States Summit included the need to link the region's energy networks and economic recovery strategies in the wake of the global economic downturn.
"What will happen if we have this sort of environmental disaster we have seen in the Gulf of Mexico but in the Baltic Sea?" Barroso asked a panel at the Baltic Development Forum in the Lithuanian capital.
Panel representatives included the prime ministers of Lithuania, Latvia, Norway, Finand and Estonia.
Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen responded by calling for action on developing an airline-style control system for ships operating in Baltic waters to ensure higher levels of safety.
"If we get a massive accident of oil or chemicals we don't have enough capacity to collect the spill," Vanhanen said. "Many of our countries are building capacity, but it will take years, so it is even more important to build a system that can prevent these acidents."
At the Baltic Sea States Summit taking place a few minutes later at another location in Vilnius, Vanhanen suggested that all ships operating in the Baltic should be tracked just as airliners are overseen by air traffic control.
"All the big vessels should somehow inform and plan with a coordinated system because around half of all accidents happen as a result of human mistakes," Vanhanen said.
The technology already exists to implement a Baltic-wide tracking system, and a time frame of "around two years" to set it up is realistic, Vanhanen told the German news agency dpa.
Other topics discussed at the Baltic Sea States Summit included the need to link the region's energy networks and economic recovery strategies in the wake of the global economic downturn.