TALLINN, 27 January 2005 - The National Audit Office of Denmark yesterday published the report of the audit "Pollution from ships in the Baltic Sea" conducted in 2004 by the Supreme Audit Institutions of the Baltic Sea countries under commonly agreed criteria. In the audits that were conducted in different counties during the same period, implementation of provisions of the Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Baltic Sea Area (The Helsinki Convention) was assessed.
The audits focused on the issues related to the prevention and elimination of pollution from ships. The findings of the audits conducted by the State Audit Office of Estonia were disclosed already in October 2004. On the basis of the material findings of the audits conducted in the Baltic Sea countries, a joint final report was prepared, the English version of which can be viewed on the website www.riigikontroll.ee. The joint final report will also be translated into Estonian.
A summary of conclusions of the parallel audit (including Estonia in comparison with other countries)
For the prevention of marine pollution it is essential that ships discharge all ship-generated wastes to port reception facilities instead of dumping them into the sea. Pursuant to the provisions of the Helsinki Convention as well as the EU directive, a "no-special-fee-system" must be implemented in ports in respect of all types of waste. According to the said system, ships are charged for waste management regardless of whether they deliver wastes or not.
This would exclude the situation where a port with more efficient waste management is forced to handle wastes that ships did not deliver to the last visited port because of high waste charges, for instance. Such system of fees has been fully implemented only in Denmark, Finland and Germany.
There is still some need for improvements in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, so that all types of ship waste could be delivered in all ports as part of the port charges.
Since the shipping of oil products on the Baltic Sea has increased dramatically in recent years, there is a need for updated and realistic risk assessments for an improved detection and elimination of oil pollution.
In order to detect pollution, surveillance activities are carried out by aircraft in all the countries participating in the audit and by ships in all the countries except Estonia. In Denmark and Finland also satellites are used to detect pollution.
All participating countries are able to start a response action within two hours of the notification of pollution. Most of the Baltic Sea countries are able to combat major oil spills within two days, as laid down in the Helsinki Convention. Elimination of pollution within two days is beyond the capacity of Estonia and Poland.
Despite the fact that essential pollution response equipment is available in most countries, immediate elimination of pollution cannot be always guaranteed. One of the problems here is the centralized storage of necessary equipment, which transportation to the place of pollution takes time. Further, not all countries are able to ensure coordinated response action of all institutions because of the lack of a national contingency plan (Estonia, Finland, Poland). Since operational exercises are, as a rule, not arranged in adverse weather conditions, it poses another problem - pollution response equipment cannot be used in bad weather.
Pollution from ships in the Baltic Sea (pdf)
Toomas Mattson
Communication Manager of National Audit Office
Telephone: 6400 777
Mob: 51 34900
E-mail: [email protected]
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Posted:
1/27/2005 12:00 AM
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Last Update:
9/22/2015 10:31 AM
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Last Review:
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