Major Oil Spill Recovery Reception Facilities: New EMSA Report

The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) publishes its report on facilities for discharge of oil collected following a major oil spill in the sea.

This report is the main deliverable of the project "Study on discharge facilities for oil recovered at sea – Geographical distribution, technical challenges, solutions and alternatives related to the discharge of oil recovered at sea by specialised vessels, following a large oil spill in Europe" (EMSA OP/07/2011), commissioned by EMSA.

The objective of the project, as determined in its tender specifications, was to provide EMSA with a study on available facilities to receive oil recovered at sea by the Agency's specialised response vessels following a large oil spill, The discharge of oil to these facilities will allow EMSA's vessels to maximise their time spent in oil recovery operations. The treatment and final disposal of recovered oil were out of the scope of the project.

A number of 35 facilities (out of 495 initially contacted from which only 67 replied) were assessed to be suitable to accommodate EMSA’s vessels and receive recovered oil providing at least a capacity of 1,000 m3 that might be readily available for the reception of recovered oil immediately or after a short notice.

An inventory of facility-specific Technical and Operational Envelopes that has been incorporated in the Annex II of the report, provides information on a range of issues including contact details of the facility, its immediate and long-term capacity, the restrictions on the quality and quantity of oil, as well as operational details relating to the berthing of incoming vessels and the conduct of discharging operations.

The full EMSA report is available for download here.