International cooperation to combat oil spills 

Monitoring oil spills in the Russian sector of the Baltic Sea and Russian Baltic seaports is to be improved. Recent years have seen a significant increase in oil tanker traffic from Russia to central Europe via the Baltic Sea. And with the increase in oil-carrying tankers comes increased international awareness of the risk of oil spills in the countries bordering the Baltic Sea and in the EU.

Therefore, monitoring of oil spills is to be improved and oil-spill response systems for the Russian sector of the Baltic Sea are to be enhanced. The systems will include definition of joint criteria for monitoring harbours and common rules on responding to oil spills and monitoring shipping.

Preventing oil spills

"The project will enhance international cooperation to prevent and combat oil spills in the Baltic Sea," explains COWI project manager Carsten Jürgensen. "In addition, it will enable a rapid response in a crisis situation, with an information and emergency centre that can respond immediately and thus minimise damage in the event of a spillage of oil or other hazardous chemicals."

COWI has just been awarded the contract to provide safety improvement support to Marine Pollution Control Search and Rescue Agency (MPCSRA) in St. Petersburg. The project, which is being financed by the EU, is being carried out under the EU’s TACIS programme.

The assignment was won in cooperation with COWI Moscow, Carl Bro (Denmark), VTT (Finland) and the Finnish Environmental Institute (Finland), as well as external experts working for COWI and Russian support consultants working for COWI Moscow. The project will take two years to complete.

Posted: 06.12.2004
By: Christina Tækker, cht@cowi.dk