Sharing Best Practices − Ship in Need of Assistance and Place of Refuge

Written by Kimmo Vahanto, Neste

Neste owns and operates two industrial ports in Finland. There have been talks of situations when a ship is in need of assistance and seeks a place of refuge to stabilize her state and mitigate hazards to shipping, humans, and the environment. Now, these talks turned into actions.

During this November, Finnish ports, authorities, and other stakeholders joined together to discuss this matter in a series of meetings. The joint meetings were led by Finnish Transport and Communications Agency (TRAFICOM) and the Finnish Border Guard.

Although the Covid-19 situation challenges us to find new ways of working and forces us to keep meetings online, I can see the importance of this topic. When the ship is in need of assistance and a place to refuge, the process and course of action have to be clear for the different parties involved. Regarding that, we are planning to organize a tabletop exercise in autumn 2021, where the process is being tested in real life. This event will be an important part of our OIL SPILL activities.

At Neste harbours, we look forward to the exercise. It is always good to practise cooperation between authorities and private companies.