INVESTMENT OF OVER € 1 MILLION in oil-spill response

The recent grounding of the 60m Togo-registered bunkering vessel Hephaestus was a reminder of Malta’s vulnerability to marine disasters. The Maltese Islands lie at the crossroads of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The effects of an accidental oil spill could have disastrous consequences on the marine environment and could also cripple some, or most of Malta’s reverse osmosis plants, crucial to the country’s potable water supply. According to the Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, it is calculated that should Malta’s current water production sources fail, Malta has only two days of fresh water supply to contend with.

In response to this risk, Port Logistics Operations Ltd invested €1 million in the oil response vessel MV Moor, €100,000 in equipment to contain any oil spills that might occur and a further investment of €10,000 in the training of personnel, enabling the organisation to have a professional, fully-fledged oil response team.

Against a backdrop of bunkering vessels on the horizon, PLO’s trainees deploy a long stretch of heavy plastic boom that is used to reduce the possibility of polluting shorelines and to make the recovery of oil easier. Booms help concentrate oil in thicker surface layers so that skimmers, vacuums, or other collection methods can be used more effectively.

PLO Managing Director, Noel Galea, explained that in the eventuality of an oil spill, containment is the first priority. “In the case of a Tier 1 or Tier 2 spill, the response team can be deployed in two hours for the ports of Valletta and Marsaxlokk. In case of spills outside the port, mobilisation time is four hours within territorial waters, excluding Area 3 and Area 6, where a maximum mobilisation time of six hours would be required. In the case of severe Tier 3 spills, substantial external resources would then be needed.”

Should an oil spill occur outside territorial waters, these are taken care by the European Maritime Safety Agency. Port Logistics Operations’ oil response team is trained to assist in such operations.