Largest Regional Oil Response Exercise in Helsinki 29.8.2012

The largest oil response exercise in the Baltic Sea region, HELCOM’s Balex Delta, takes place this year on

Wednesday 29 August 2012 in Helsinki, Finland.

A designated boat will be ready for any registered media to observe from close distance the international exercise in the Gulf of Finland. A set of specialists will join the cruise for any questions from the media.

The drill simulates a large real life oil catastrophe in one of the most vulnerable – and busiest – sea areas in the world.

The goal is to recover as much oil as possible in the open sea before it can reach the shores of the islands or mainland, since this is roughly ten times more cost-efficient than shoreline clean-up.

This year, Balex Delta is hosted by Finland and is exceptionally large with 22 specially equipped oil response vessels from all the nine Baltic coastal countries, along with over 50 other ships and boats and aircraft support. Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) is responsible for coordination and a national coastal response exercise will coincide with the operation on 29 August.

Programme (local time CET+2h)

·         8.30 Media cruise departure. Name of the ship: Merisaraste. Point of departure: Helsinki Market square, “IHA Lines” pier in front of the old market hall

·         Extinction of tanker fire in the open sea.

·         The exercise scenario and roles of responsible parties explained briefly by the representatives of national partners (Border Guard, City of Helsinki, Finnish Environment Institute, Meteorological Institute, Navy forces, WWF, etc)

·         Balex Delta exercise: all oil response equipment such as booms and skimmers in use, by all the oil response and other ships and assisted by a Border Guard aircraft

·         The Chief of Operation, Kalervo Jolma from Finnish Environment Institute, visits for a briefing

·         12:00 Approximate time of return to the Market square

Media representatives are asked to apply for accreditation

by 22 August 2012, by providing contact information (name, media, e-mail, phone number) to Ms. Anna Toppari/SYKE:

anna.toppari@environment.fi, tel. +358 40 674 8393

The international exercise will be preceded by a national oil response exercise by Finnish authorities, on 28 August 2012.

On Thursday 30 August, 12:00 – 14:00, the oil response vessels are open for public in Katajanokka, Helsinki. The same day, an expert seminar is arranged to deepen the lessons learnt from this year’s exercise; click here for more information.

Further, the City of Helsinki and the University of Helsinki are hosting a set of visits for international media on 28-30 August, to celebrate Helsinki as the World Design Capital 2012.

More details in the joint media programme:

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Background information:

The annual BALEX DELTA exercises

·         test the alarm procedures and response capability of the HELCOM Contracting States (all nine Baltic Sea coastal states) in case of a major accident and an international response operation.

·         have the general objective to ensure that every Contracting State is able to lead a major response operation.

·         are hosted by the Contracting States according to an agreed schedule.

·         are most famous of the regular, operational HELCOM pollution response exercises

·         are the largest pollution response exercise in the Baltic Sea and one of the largest worldwide

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The Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, usually referred to as the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), is an intergovernmental organisation of the nine Baltic Sea coastal countries and the European Union working to protect the marine environment of the Baltic Sea from all sources of pollution and to ensure safety of navigation in the region.

HELCOM is the governing body of the "Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area," more usually known as the Helsinki Convention, from 1974.

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For further information, please contact:

(until 13.8.): Anna Toppari/SYKE: anna.toppari@environment.fi; tel. +358 40 674 8393

Johanna Laurila

Information Secretary

HELCOM

Tel: +358 (0)40 523 8988

Fax: +358 (0)207 412 645

E-mail: johanna.laurila@helcom.fi

Sirpa Pellinen

Chief Information Officer

Finnish Environment Institute - SYKE

Tel: +358 40 740 2754

Fax: +358 9 5490 2190

E-mail: sirpa.pellinen@environment.fi