Tag: Baltic Sea

  Ports of Stockholm has the capabilities to manage practically all waste. Seven out of ten cruise ships offload their waste water in port, while many others purify this themselves aboard the vessel. Ports of Stockholm is one of the world's leading ports when it comes to being able to process and recycle the waste that is produced aboard vessels. At no extra charge vessels have the opportunity to offload their waste water at all of our cruise ship quay-berths, as this service is included in the port fee. Vessels can also offload their waste water to tanker trucks, pontoons and boats in Stockholm. Last year around 70 percent of cruise vessels offloaded their waste water during their call at Ports of Stockholm. The cruise shipping companies are well aware that the environment is a survival factor for the future and are continuously striving for improvement. Many of the vessels that do not offload their waste water in port instead have their own purification facilities aboard the vessel. The remaining few do not do anything they are legally not allowed to do. Purification facilities aboard the vessel, recycling, sorting of waste, more energy efficient, environmentally cleaner engines and alternative fuels are ...

Better reporting on harmful discharges other than oil from ships to the Baltic Sea is discussed by the HELCOM group on aerial surveillance, continuing its 2-day annual meeting in Sopot, Poland. The main focus of the Baltic aerial surveillance cooperation has traditionally been on detection of illegal discharges of mineral oil, while more systematic reporting on other harmful substances observed from air would also be needed. The group also continues to develop the pressure indicator of oil spills affecting the marine environment. This is a part of the larger HELCOM process of holistically assessing the Baltic Sea, not succeeding without solid information not just about the status but also about pressures towards the environment and the human activities behind it. The oil spill indicator, one of the many expecting finalization in June 2015, will be based on the data on illegal oil spills collected since the 1980's. In addition, the meeting will plan for the next pollution control operations. For having a realistic estimate of the total number of oil spills discharged into the Baltic Sea during a randomly selected period, Coordinated Extended Pollution Control Operations (CEPCO) are organized at least twice a year within the HELCOM framework. These high-intensity ...

During the HELCOM Annual Meeting on 3-4 March 2015, the Contracting Parties continued to address the issue of limiting passenger ships' sewage ending up in the Baltic Sea. The negotiations concerned various options to be able to be in a position that a joint notification by HELCOM countries could be sent to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The deadline for documents for the next meeting of the IMO decision making body (MEPC 68 in May 2015) is Friday 6 March. The notification document has the function to notify that the relevant Baltic regional ports have adequate capacity to receive passenger sewage, as this is a prerequisite for the existing IMO Special Area status on sewage for the Baltic Sea to take effect. The HELCOM Heads of Delegations considered the issue, in addition to the plenary, during two working sessions on 3 March. At that time an agreement could not be reached regarding a notification covering all the Baltic Sea countries. As the HELCOM Chair stated in the meeting, HELCOM will follow developments at IMO and also continue the technical cooperation within the Port Reception Facilities (PRF) Cooperation Platform on sewage delivery between the administrations, industry stakeholders and the civil society. ...

Klaipedos Nafta has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bomin Linde LNG to jointly develop the LNG fuel market, including the necessary infrastructure, in the Baltic Sea. As of 1 January 2015, Klaipedos Nafta has successfully started commercial operations of its Independence floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU), providing LNG regasification and reloading services on a third-party-access basis. The company now intends to construct an onshore small scale LNG reloading station in the port of Klaipeda. With this station, Klaipedos Nafta will be able to offer small scale LNG services, e.g. loading services for trucks, serving the increasing demand for LNG the Baltic States and in Poland. Bomin Linde LNG intends to become the user of the Klaipeda LNG terminal and to book regulated LNG reloading capacities in order to use the facility as the regional break-bulking hub for the Baltic Sea. Bomin Linde LNG and Klaipedos Nafta have also agreed to jointly explore the possibilities to develop an LNG bunkering vessel, which would provide LNG bunkering services in the region, feed the LNG reloading station in Klaipeda and Bomin Linde's LNG bunkering terminals, e.g. the planned terminal in Hamburg, and other bunkering terminals in the Baltic Sea.  In ...

The EU's TEN-T Programme will back with over €2 million the upgrade of two ferries navigating in the Baltic Sea to the mixed use of electricity and fuel. The new hybrid propulsion system will help to considerably reduce the environmental impact of ships, as well as secure the operability and stability of the vessels. A new EU regulation requires all vessels travelling in European waters to cut down the emission of sulphur oxide (SO) from 2015 onwards to decrease environmental pollution. This project will retrofit two ferries ensuring the link between Rødby (Denmark) and Puttgarden (Germany) with a hybrid propulsion system using electricity and fuel. Thanks to the most size-efficient bunker consumption, SOX and particle matter from ship exhaust gases will be reduced by up to 99% and 88%, respectively. Bunker consumption savings will result in about 15% less CO2 emissions. The project was selected for EU funding with the assistance of external experts under the TEN-T Multi-Annual Call 2013, priority 'Motorways of the Sea'. Its implementation will be monitored by INEA, the European Commission's Innovation and Networks Executive Agency. The project is to be completed by December 2015. You can also read the following related articles: EU to co-fund ...

The EU's TEN-T Programme will support with over €4.5 million a pilot test of an innovative exhaust gas cleaner on cargo ships navigating in the North and Baltic Sea. The new technology is expected to reduce considerably the environmental impact of ships, as well as to bring down the costs for using less polluting fuels. European regulation requires all cargo vessels travelling in European waters to cut down the emission of sulphur oxide (SO) from 2015 onwards, to decrease environmental pollution. Among the existing solutions scrubber, a system removing SO from exhaust gases with fresh water, is the most common technology used in this process. This pilot project will install and test the latest scrubber technology that uses sea water instead of fresh water in an open loop. The new cleaning system is expected to bring a number of economic and environmental benefits: ships will no longer need to carry supplies of fresh water, nor will they have to transport and use chemicals for water treatment, in order to reuse it. More space will be available for cargo. The latest scrubber technology will be tried out on three different types of cargo ships, which all together represent the most common ...

The cooperation between HELCOM and the EU Strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (EUSBSR) is expected to smoothen.   For the first time, a dedicated session with the representatives from relevant EUSBSR Priority Areas and Horizontal Actions was successfully organized as a part of the meeting of HELCOM Heads of Delegation representing all the Baltic coastal countries as well as the EU. Concrete proposals on why and how to improve the synergies between HELCOM and EUSBSR have been listed in the meeting outcome. The shared goal would be to better communicate the policy directions and needs by HELCOM, which then can be met with and supported by the EUSBSR work and projects. The meeting recommended practical ways for better use of the expertise of HELCOM groups. Using the existing forums, co-chairing, back-to-back meetings, opportunity for involving Russian experts, and helping HELCOM countries in tapping into EU funding were also mentioned as practical solutions for more effective regional cooperation. The timing for the joint HELCOM-EUSBSR meeting was particularly adept, as the HELCOM streamlining process has been completed few months ago while the Action Plan of the EUSBSR is currently under revision, expecting launch at the Strategy's Annual Forum in mid-June 2015. ...

The national agencies responsible for navigation safety issues in the coastal countries of the Baltic Sea

(Image Credit: Swedish Coast Guard) Major revisions of the internationally agreed procedures for marine pollution response in the Baltic Sea region, the HELCOM Response Manual, will be considered at the HELCOM Response Working Group meeting in Tallinn. The 3-day Meeting collects ministries and authorities with operational responsibilities on marine pollution preparedness and response in the coastal countries of the Baltic Sea and the EU. It will be chaired by Bernt Stedt, Swedish Coastguard. The original Manual on marine pollution incidents was adopted in 1983, based on a series of HELCOM Recommendations dealing with international warning, reporting, communication and command systems for the Baltic Sea region developed since the 1970s. These agreed operational procedures and best practices for the Baltic Sea are followed, exercised and revised on a regular basis by the coastal countries and the EU. Currently the Manual consists of three parts: Volume I on general issues, such as national contact information, procedures for alarm and requests for international assistance, aerial surveillance and financial aspects of international operations; Volume II on spills involving hazardous substances; and Volume III on response the shore. Changes considered to the Response Manual include the first drafting for a complete overhaul of the sections on hazardous substances ...