A multi-purpose vessel will enhance Finland's capacity for oil combating
"The ever increasing transports of oil and chemicals on the Gulf of Finland call for an improved capacity to combat oil and chemical accidents. Today, we have received authorisation to order a multipurpose oil combating ship which will decisively enhance Finland's preparedness to handle difficult situations that may arise. This multipurpose vessel will be able to work under difficult weather conditions and in ice, and its speed will come in particularly useful in chemicals accidents," says Minister of the Environment Jan-Erik Enestam, satisfied at the outcome of negotiations on the first supplementary budget.
During the present government, Finland has worked determinedly to improve oil combating capacity in a number of ways. The most recent example is today's decision to include, in the first supplementary state budget for 2006, the means for acquisition of a multipurpose vessel designed for combating oil and chemicals accidents. The order may amount to 35 million euros. After tenders for bid, it is hoped that the procurement contract can be signed even this autumn.
The procurement decision is in line with the Programme of Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen's Government. Under the Government Programme, the Ministry of the Environment has also looked into the possible establishment in Finland of a capacity centre for oil combating. In April this year, a report was published on the economics of such a centre. "My aim is for the Government to make a decision on the establishment of the centre in the course of the year," Minister Enestam reveals.
Finland's oil combating capacity has also been eked out by the re-furbishing of three state-owned vessels for oil combating work on the open sea. The fairway maintenance vessel Seili and the coastguard vessel Tursas have already been re-equipped for oil combating, and the re-equipment of the coastguard vessel Uisko will be finished this year. Moreover, Finland has part-financed the refurbishment of the Estonian fairway maintenance vessel EVA 316, which was fitted with similar oil combating equipment as her sister ship Seili. Systematic work has also been devoted to bettering oil combating capacity and repairing oil spill damages with financing from the Oil Pollution Fund under the auspices of the Ministry of the Environment.
As of April this year, ships guilty of deliberate oil spills in Finnish territorial waters or in Finland's economic zone will have to pay an oil spill charge. As soon as sufficient proof of the spill is available, the Border Guard will serve the ship's owner or the shipping company with a bill covering the oil spill cover-up charge. Even the lowest charge amounts to several thousand euros, and the law indicates no upper limit for this charge.
After an oil spill has occurred it is of essential importance that the combating authorities have quick access to data on the environmental conditions in the surroundings of the spill site. The Finnish Environment Institute SYKE has recently started up a new Internet-based map system utilising radar satellite pictures and entitled BORIS (Baltic Oil Response Information system). This system makes it possible to present prognoses on the spread of the oil and to couple these with other geographic information and satellite pictures.
A few years ago, the Finnish Environment Institute set up a data system entitled MARIS (Maritime Accident Response Information System) to be used in risk management in countries around the Baltic Sea. It also provides data on each country's ships in state of alarm and immediately available for oil combating purposes. At the initiative of Minister of the Environment Jan-Erik Enestam, this data system was part-financed by the Nordic Council of Ministers. The updating, maintenance and further development of the system is now the charge of the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, the HELCOM Commission.
The urgent need for improving Finland's oil combating capacity is primarily due to the ever increasing Russian oil transports on the Gulf of Finland. In 2005, the total volume of oil shipped on the Gulf of Finland attained 135 million tonnes, and the transports may exceed 200 million tonnes even before 2010. There has also been a quick and marked increase in other seafaring on the fairways.