Twenty ships under the HELCOM flag conduct operation to contain and recover two simulated oil spills from vessels collided off the Polish coast

Twenty ships under the HELCOM flag conducted a successful operation to contain and recover two simulated oil spills from vessels collided off the Polish coast in the Pomeranian Bay, as part of the annual Baltic Sea pollution response exercise Balex Delta 2015. A large-scale national onshore exercise was organized simultaneously for deployment of the clean-up units as well as coordination between all the actors involved.
 
For over 25 years HELCOM has sustained the international operational preparedness in maritime emergencies and polluting accidents at sea, in one of the most vulnerable and busiest sea areas in the world.
 
The largest maritime emergency and counter-pollution drill of its kind in the Baltic Sea area – and one of the largest worldwide – involve the release of simulated oil; the mobilization of pollution response vessels from several coastal countries; as well as the establishment of a unified command structure and communication system. In addition, a full-scale oil recovery operation at the site of the accident was set up, including actual deployment of oil containment booms and skimming equipment along with the onshore response of more than a hundred trained staff and 40 fire engines, and other necessary equipment.
 
Eight HELCOM Member States – Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden – took part in the exercise with both pollution-combating ships and smaller vessels with over 400 participants in total. Almost 50 observers from all the nine HELCOM countries as well as Brazil, Canada, Portugal and USA monitored the actions of the response units. The Exercise Evaluation Team consisted of representatives of Latvia, Lithuania and Poland.
 
The aim of Balex Delta is to test the alarm procedures and the response capability of HELCOM members as well as national alarm procedures, including the capacity of each country to command a large international drill, and also evaluate staff functions and the cooperation between the countries' combating units. This year the goals extended to the shore, for trying in practice the national onshore clean-up capabilities and the national wildlife response alert procedures. In addition, the 2015 drill had a main focus on communication between the involved units as well as the interaction between offshore response and clean-up units on the shore.
 
This year's HELCOM annual exercise was organized by the Polish Maritime Search and Rescue Service, Gdynia (Maritime part), and the West Pomeranian Regional Headquarters of the State Fire Service (Onshore part). The exercise involved a scenario where a middle size tanker collides with a smaller container vessel, resulting in oil slicks of 500 m3 and 150 m3 of heavy fuel oil from the drifting ships. Units from the HELCOM countries were tasked to jointly prevent the oil slicks from coming ashore to the nearby National Park and Natura 2000 areas. Having two sources of pollution on different locations, the pool of response vessels were divided into two groups. The oil spilt during the exercise was simulated by two large releases of environmentally-friendly expanded perlite (15 and 5 cubic metres). Expanded perlite is volcanic amorphous glass, fully non-toxic and similar than beach sand.