Brussels, 01/12/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), created after the Erika oil slick disaster in order to provide rapid and effective technical and material assistance to Member States in maritime pollution response activities, recently signed contracts with three maritime companies to charter anti-pollution ships in four priority areas defined in its action plan for 2005. The Finnish company, Lamor Corporation AB, will be responsible for intervening in the Baltic Sea; Louis Dreyfus Armateurs S.A.S (France) on the Atlantic coast and the western part of the Channel; and Tankship Management Ltd (Malta) in the Mediterranean Sea. The mission entrusted to EMSA is not to jointly finance the measures taken by Member States but to form a supplementary “reserve” that can be immediately mobilised and adapted to oil pumping operations at sea (but not to rescue operations). With a budget of EUR 17.5 million for 2005, EMSA does not have the means to invest in its own fleet sufficient for carrying out the tasks entrusted to it but “we are not displeased as this limited budget has forced us to be creative and to find innovative solutions”, EMSA Executive Director Willem de Ruiter said. These contracts are signed for a duration of three years (from 31 March 2006 to 31 December 2008) after the public-private partnership model and will allow the use of vessels already manufactured but used for other purposes. They will have large storage capacities (4,000 sq m on average) and high-tech equipment for sucking and discharging high viscosity oil spills (pumps, skimming equipment, cables, etc.) and for monitoring the movement and size of oil spills day and night, thanks to on-board radars. The vessels are also designed to be able to operate in difficult weather conditions (storms, fog, ice, etc.) and the on-board crews will be specifically trained for the operations in hand and in the specialised equipment used. The other advantage of these contracts is that they will mean no time is lost when intervention is necessary, as the conditions for mobilising these anti-pollution vessels can be settled in advance. In the event of accident, the vessels should, for example, immediately cease what they are doing, and answer the call from the country concerned, being chartered for intervention without delay. Member States will cover the operational costs and keep control and command of equipment chartered by EMSA.
This first series of contracts is only the first stage of a vast network of anti-pollution vessels that EMSA hopes to set in place. A second call for tenders will be launched for 2006 and possibly 2007 to also cover the Black Sea after Romania and Bulgaria's accession to the EU.