The long-awaited KOPOS oil spill exercise took place on the last days of May 2021. Due to the pandemic, the exercise was postponed from its original date in 2020 and instead it was implemented online this year. Despite the restrictions to make it a live large-scale event, the organisers from the Lithuanian Fire and Rescue Department made the exercise interactive and visual to all participants and observers.
Although TalTech Estonian Maritime Academy as a maritime education and training institution is focusing on educating future navigators, ship engineers and shore personnel, we are also contributing in the training of coast and border guards. Besides conventional further training courses in the maritime, we also provide training courses for search mission coordinators (SMC) and on-scene coordinators (OSC) aimed for the staff of national Rescue Coordination Centres and deck officers of vessels taking part in national SAR activities. As the focus of these courses is in the practical application of knowledge via teamwork using case studies and exercises, the maritime simulators play quite an extensive role.
This month we should have held an oil spill conference and exercise at the island Fanoe in Denmark. Due to the corona situation, it has been postponed to the autumn (23rd to 25th September), so we continue our preparations. At the event, we will gather Danish rescue authorities and other interested stakeholders. Hopefully, we can also welcome our partners in the OIL SPILL project as travel restrictions are removed in the Baltic Sea countries.
KOPOS2021 will be an interactive tabletop exercise on Wednesday, 26 May, followed by a webinar on OSR capability in the Baltic Sea Region on Thursday. Everyone interested is welcome to participate in both events virtually. For the English-speaking observers, a simultaneous translation from Lithuanian into English will be provided during the tabletop exercise. The webinar “Enhancing oil spill response capability in the Baltic Sea Region” is held completely in English (see the programme below).
One of the main aims of the OIL SPILL project is to develop co-operation between volunteers and authorities in oil spill response. Tommi Virtanen, who works as Head of Preparedness at the Finnish Red Cross Southwest Finland district office, represented the voluntary organizations in the exercise management group. “Utilizing the expertise of the third sector depends most on the authority’s imagination and perhaps the courage to ask for help from these organizations…
Yesterday evening, a massive oil spill was spotted at the Finnish archipelago on the Southwest coast of Finland. Luckily, it is only an imaginary one and part of the Vellamo 2021 oil spill response (OSR) exercise organized by the Southwest Finland Emergency Services (SWFES). Vellamo is one of the main events of the OIL SPILL Project. It aims to test and practice how the local emergency services in our pilot area manages the response operation together with the OSR volunteers and in cooperation with international assistance.
In response to a request from the Environmental Protection Department of Lithuania’s Ministry of the Environment, the European Maritime Safety Administration (EMSA) …
My name is Sebastian Henriksson. I am a firefighter, and this spring, I joined the OIL SPILL project as part of the …
Vellamo 2021 is one of the largest oil spill response (OSR) exercises the OIL SPILL Project is part of. Southwest Finland Emergency Services is the main organizer of this event that combines the activities of OIL SPILL, Host Nation Support, and SAAME, the annual OSR exercise at the Finnish Archipelago Sea.
Had the pandemic not happened, Project Manager Jarmo Malmsten would probably be making the last arrangements for the final conference now in …
