Frequently asked questions about Tanker Safety

Why has the John Nurminen Foundation launched the Tanker Safety project?

With this concrete action, the Foundation aims to significantly reduce the risk of an oil disaster, since the delicate nature of the Baltic Sea would not be able to cope with a large-scale oil disaster. As traffic on the Gulf of Finland increases, the risk of a disaster continues to increase. This is why the John Nurminen Foundation decided to take action and gather the key bodies in the maritime sector together and start coordinating the Tanker Safety project.

Why invest in transmitting oil tanker route plans?

Since 2005, the drawing up of route plans has been mandatory for all vessels exceeding 24 metres in length. However, there has been no system to monitor the preparation of the plans, since the oil tankers have not been obliged to send their plans anywhere. The Tanker Safety project will create a system which will enable the route plans to be sent to the GOFREP (Gulf of Finland Reporting) system. Later, incentives for sending the route plans will be created in the form of useful, up-to-date navigation information to be provided to oil tankers which, in addition to contributing to safety, will also increase the profitability of the oil tankers. The risk of oil disasters is reduced just by ensuring that route plans are sent, since vessel traffic services will be able to check the proposed routes of oil tankers, follow the realisation of the planned route and better anticipate possible problems.
 

How much is the risk of oil tanker disasters reduced due to the project?

The Tanker Safety project focuses on affecting the factors which, on the basis of analyses, have caused previous accidents and close calls. There is a wide-ranging consensus among researchers and actors in the sector that safety of maritime traffic can be improved by developing navigation practices. Further information on the activities of the Kotka Maritime Research Centre (KMRC) can be found at http://www.merikotka.fi/uk/index.php.
For example, the route of the Greek oil tanker Propontis on the way from Primorsk to the North Sea, which touched ground west of Suursaari in February 2007, had been chosen erroneously outside deep-water channels and it touched ground on shallows over which it had sailed before. The Propontis was carrying 100,000 tonnes of crude oil but, thanks to the double hull of the vessel, no oil was released into the sea. If the GOFREP system had known of the vessel’s route plan, the bad route choice might have been noticed.

Why haven’t steering practices familiar from air traffic been adopted earlier in the management of maritime traffic?

The history of maritime traffic is long compared to air traffic, and over the centuries a strong culture of its own has been created around it. The concept of the freedom of the seas, that is to say that the seas are for everybody’s use, still strongly affects maritime traffic and international practices pertaining to it.

How much oil has been spilt in the Gulf of Finland in the worst disasters and how often do accidents occur?

The worst oil disaster in the last 40 years occurred in 1987 when MS Antonio Gramsci was grounded in Vaarlahti and spilt 650 tonnes of heavy fuel oil into the sea. In a few other accidents, the spilt amounts have been some dozens of tonnes. All in all, small amounts of oil are spilt in the Gulf of Finland dozens of times a year, mostly as a result of pumping oily bilge water. Large-scale oil disasters have not occured in a long time.

What effects would a large-scale oil disaster have on the Gulf of Finland?

A large-scale disaster would have significant effects on the nature and business life in the area. Oil destroys the microfauna of the sea, which directly affects the amount of nutrition for fish. The detrimental effect on fish stocks also affects fishing as a livelihood. Oil drifting onto the shores hinders the growth of water fauna and large algae and consequently changes the underwater ecosystems, which are, for example, important spawning locations for various species of fish. Oil soils the plumage of birds and hinders their temperature regulation, as well as their flying and diving. Likewise, the temperature regulation of seals is disturbed when their fur is soiled. After the failure of temperature regulation, the animals will die of cold. Oil is also poisonous to animals when ingested. For people, the major effects of an oil disaster would be felt in fishing, summer cottage life and other recreational use of the archpelago and the sea.

The severity of the oil disaster is determined by the amount and quality of the spilt oil, as well as the weather. The most detrimental forms of oil for the natural environment are crude oil and heavy fuel oil. Stormy weather, ice and islands make it more difficult to delimit and remove the oil. The cold water slows the disintegration of the oil. In the event of an oil disaster, the current countermeasure capacity is not sufficient and most of the oil would be left in the sea.

How large oil cargoes do modern oil tankers carry?

On the Gulf of Finland, coastal tankers carry loads of approximately 10,000 to 40,000 tonnes; the larger oil tankers can carry up to 120,000 tonnes of oil. On the oceans, there are tankers with a capacity of over 500,000 tonnes. The cargo containers on oil tankers have been divided into several cargo tanks, which means that in the case of an accident only a part of the overall cargo can be spilt into the sea. It has been estimated that in the worst case scenario two of the cargo tanks of an oil tanker can be damaged and approximately 30,000 tonnes of oil end up in the Gulf of Finland.

What is the difference between a double bottom and double hull oil tanker?
In this context, the term double structure means that the bottom or hull is made of two shells. In a double hull oil tanker, the outer and inner hull are not connected with each other, but there may be up to several metres of space between them, which can be used to store ballast water or fuel. In this case, damage to the outer hull on the oil tank does not yet cause a major oil spill. In a double bottom oil tanker, only the bottom of the vessel has a double structure. Thus, the double hull oil tanker is also better protected against impacts and dents on the sides of the vessel.

How will the gas pipe affect oil transport?

The construction of the gas pipe affects the amount of traffic on the Gulf of Finland and consequently indirectly also the safety of oil transport. If the gas pipe is not constructed, the same amount of gas will be transported on gas tankers, which will further increase traffic. During the construction of the pipes, it is important that maritime traffic centres in the area are capable of guiding vessel traffic so that the construction of the pipe does not cause disruption to vessel traffic. The outcomes of the Tanker Safety project will play a major role in the minimisation of effects caused by the construction of the pipe.

How can the commitment of various bodies in the project be ensured?

Key actors in the project are the deck officers of the vessels sailing in the area and the personnel of the maritime traffic centres. The commitment of these people can be ensured by showing them the concrete benefits of the project. The deck officers of vessels can get more accurate and focused information (pertaining to the their planned route), which will be useful along the journey. In addition, the deck officers will get a pair of independent eyes and a system to monitor the safe passage of their vessel. The personnel of the maritime traffic centres will benefit from the fact that while traffic increases it is easier for them to recognise among routine data events that require action from them.

What is the added value created by the Tanker Safety project when compared to other ongoing maritime safety projects?

The Tanker Safety project creates the preconditions for a novel approach to vessel traffic control. Checking and monitoring of route plans is in itself an immensely important and new extra measure aimed at ensuring maritime safety. In addition, the two-way exchange of information between the vessel and on-shore officials related to the Tanker Safety project opens up new opportunities for effective communication. When the preconditions for the exchange of information are in order, it is possible to develop a limitless amount of new services benefiting seafarers on the basis of the basic solutions introduced in this project and disseminate the operational model over an even larger area than the Baltic Sea or Europe.