AG ESAS 17.11/18.4
17th Meeting of the Advisory Group on Environmental Safety Aspects of Shipping
November 6-7, 2008, Istanbul, Turkey
Draft Minutes
The meeting was attended by the representatives from all Black Sea countries and invited guests from EC, SMA (Swedish Maritime Administration) and OSPRI.
Abbreviations: AK – Ahmet Kideys, VV – Violeta Velikova.
A1: Opening and welcome, introduction of participants, approval of the Agenda and minutes of the previous meeting.
The meeting was opened by the Chairman Mr. Adrian Alexe.
VV explained the Agenda items in view of their necessity to be discussed by the AG. The Agenda was adopted with recommendations from Russia and Turkey to elaborate for further meetings typical Agenda that would cover all the aspects of ESAS, including PRF, exercises, dredged materials, etc., that were not covered by the Agenda of the 17th meeting. VV reminded that the Bravo exercises were covered by electronic distribution of the BG report and the GE one was expected. Upon receipt the latter will be also distributed for consideration. The AG was invited to comment on both reports by E-mail. Due to financial constraints, the regular meetings of the AG might take place only once per year and most of the communication/discussions should become electronic. The draft Guideline on Dredge Materials was distributed right after the 16th EAS AG meeting, however no comments arrived except from Turkey. The item was not included due to the many other more urgent issues which the group had to cover in two days only.
The Minutes of the 16th ESAS AG Meeting (Doc. N 16.4) were approved. The Chairman informed the AG that the next Black Sea DELTA exercise would take place in September 2009, hosted by Romania. The preparation model of the SULH exercise will be used, a strategy will be elaborated and distributed ASAP. An IMO OPRC Model Training Course will be conducted in Romania in February 2009 – 2 representatives per state will be invited to take part. The training is proposed at OPRC Level 3 and it is suggested that time is alocated to prepare the strategy and better conduct the BS DELTA exercise later in 2009. The preparation of SULH lasted around one year, which means that the preparation for the Romanian DELTA should start as soon as possible. The BSC PS assured the group that will facilitate the preparation as this was the case with SULH. TU reminded that the voluntary basis for BS DELTA exercises is not bad, but it would be better to have an agreed schedule, where all the States would know in which year they were planned responsible. In case of problems, the States might ask for replacement, but the schedule should be there. Everyone understands that BS DELTA exercise is a heavy responsibility in a changing political environment. RU supported TU and stressed on the need to elaborate a long-term schedule for exercises which would allow well in advance the States to start preparations for exercises (HELCOM example). Capt Landin also supported the idea, stressing that the commitment of a State should not change with the change of the government. During the discussion BG and TU mentioned that they had regular national drilling exercises twice per year, inviting observers from different states and organizations. However, the BS DELTA remains the most important regional exercise, where the purpose is to bring the States to real cooperation in case of accident, but not to act only as observers at each other. Upon recommendation of AK, the group suggested to add to the revised SAP 2008 the schedule of Oil spill preparedness and response exercises. RU kindly accepted to send the formulation of the Baltic region for the revised SAP. VV reminded the AG that the last item of the Agenda includes elaboration of such a schedule and invited the group to proceed with the next item.
A2: ESAS Annual Reporting. Countries contributions (Indicator-based Reporting) to the Annual report of the AG for the Commission[1].
1. Bulgaria: Presentation was given by Ms. D. Pisheva (attached). Dredged materials and BWM not reported.
2. Georgia: Presentation given by Mr. Imnaishvili (attached). MRCC base, new equipment installed in Batumi. Change in SAR-OPRC organization structures. Recent accidents overviewed and ships calling at ports presented. Other important items such as PRF, BWM, Inspection, Dredging, Cargo turnover, Oil spills missing. Training conducted for the use of the new equipment. A new website for the GE MRCC at www.bsmrrc.net. GE plans to actively participate in the BS DELTA exercises 2009.
3. Romania: Mr. Adrian Alexe reported (attached). Dredged materials only not reported, due to problems of receiving data from related ministry. The Table with number of ships calling at ports to be checked.
4. Russia: Presentation given by Mrs. Kutaeva (attached). Although the Contingency Plan is not signed by the Russian Federation, this plan was activated during the Kerch accident in November 2008. IMO Guidelines for ballast water exchange used. The BW monitoring in Novorossiysk is voluntary.
5. Turkey: Presentation given by Ms. Didem Ugur (attached). Cargo turnover not reported.
6. Ukraine: reported by Mr. Roman Bashtannyy (attached). Full report.
There was a question about the aerial surveillance in Romania. The Chairman explained: based on agreement with a private company, besides any other opportunity to send a craft is used (Ministry of Interior, other private companies). 67% of alerts coming from EMSA were checked and all of them were false. Regular aerial surveillance is not in place. RO receives from EMSA 4 images per month, BG – 6. GE asked what happens when a spill occurs in between delivery of satellite images. AK explained that you can always order an image in case of an oil spill (there are many different organizations providing satellite images based on a different price).
The BW inspection in Novorossiysk was discussed. The BW are checked for density by refractometer, the procedure takes only 2 minutes. At density higher than 1.16?, the ship is not allowed to discharge BW in the port.
Capt Landin recommended bunkering to be better controlled in the ports, as it is a very serious source of wastes (some waste companies are mixing oily waste into bunkers).
The Chairman informed the group about a movie from the national CHARLIE (Equipment Deployment) exercise of Romania that took place in September. The BSC PS will copy the movie and distribute it to the members of the group.
Mr. Flyaum reported on Satellite monitoring in RU waters and backtracking in case of oil spills, based on SCANEX satellite images (available Demonstrator site of the company - http://new.test.kosmosnimki.ru/Default.aspx, the images are not public). Often 2-3 ships are in the vicinity of an oil spill. Backtracking is combined with additional information (wind, currents), often it is difficult to identify the exact sources of pollution. However, the suspected ships are more carefully examined in the port. Detention is based on the state of the oil separator. The RU ports are in possession of a very good statistics, which helps to identify easily the ships of persistent non-compliance (target ships). When the ships were warned that satellite surveillance was available, the first 2 months the cases of oil pollution decreased 4 times. Images from SCANEX are received 2-3 times per week, price 1000 USD.
Russian Federation’s offer:
· To improve ecological safety of navigation by the way of extension of monitoring using space images for all Black Sea ports and the basic recommended sea routes.
· To create joint AIS system for the Black Sea region.
• To create information centre for collecting, storage and exchange of operational information about oil pollution, joint out by space shooting involved vessels and results of investigation.
VV: See the text of the Oil Project (Doc. 17.9) – all these proposals are included already in the project: SCANEX imagery, AIS networking, Information system and backtracking in the frames of VTOPIS.
Discussion around the BW control in UA included the relevance of suspended matter amount in BW as a criteria for compliance. UA explained that the amount of SM depends on the state of the tanks. When the tanks are cleaned of sediments, then the ship is in compliance. Capt Landin reminded that 90% of all ships are double hull tankers, with coated tanks, neither iron, nor suspended matter are relevant criteria for compliance. AK explained what suspended matter is not necessarily indicator of bad ballast, and that the BS is characteristic of high levels of suspended matter under natural conditions. The problem here is that the BW procedures are different in all BS ports, we need to cooperate with the private sector and work toward harmonized policy.
A3. Revision of the Reporting Format.
The revision of the Reporting Format was undertaken based on the recommendation and comments of the AG members. The Decision from the 16th ESAS AG meeting was:
The Reporting Format of the ESAS AG needs improvement. List of indicators will be specified and relevant reporting will be arranged. RO proposal: to make the Format simple, clear, printable.
The group worked to agree all the tables included in the Reporting Format. The agreed Format is attached.
Annex 4 is the overview of equipment for oil spill response, Standby equipment (the one which can be rented in case of an oil spill) to be added. No cost to be indicated. In case of necessity, the costs will be outlined in a contract between the states. Response capacity data belong to different Ministries and it is often a problem to be collected. However, there is a legal obligation in the frames of the Emergency Protocol, therefore the Ministries of Transport, Environment, Emergency situations, etc should cooperate when response capacity data should be collected and updated.
Since there was confusion with regard to which ones are the latest versions of Annexes of the Contingency Plan, AK asked the opinion of the ESAS to put all Annexes of the Contingency Plan to the Black Sea web, so ESAS members could use one (and the last) version. ESAS agreed to put all Annexes to web but for the Annex 1, 2 and 4 there will be password protection whilst others are open to public.
MARPOL inspections are in place in BU and RO in separate from PSC inspections. The states will update the BSC annually on the progress with separation of different kinds of inspections in their states. System like VTOPIS will need to know the reason for detention – MARPOL or others?
Note: PSC inspection takes 1 hour, and MARPOL – 4 hours (experience of BG).
The tables for cargo and ships calling at ports will be reorganized according to the PSC classification (include all different types of ships like in PSC reporting).
For pollution fines the Group decided to use the IMO Format.
The date of reporting (1st of August) might change, if the BSC changes the reporting year according to the new agreement on the financial year So far the financial year was till 1st of September. Now it will be January-December.
The BSC PS will finalize all the tables of the amended Reporting Format and send them to the ESAS AG for approval. The Table on Dispersants will be one time filled in and updated only in case of changes.
A4. Indicators for reporting – agreed list. Format of the Annual Report for the Commission.
The Annual report template prepared by the BSC PS was overviewed by the AG. The states will prepare their contributions to the Annual report for the Commission according to the mention template upon availability of data to prepare the recommended tables and figures. The content of each contribution will be as follows:
Introduction
I. Analysis of national data reported to the BSC, based on indicators
1. Number of ships
2. Cargo turnover
3. Inspection of ships
4. PRF
5. Oil Spills Reporting:
6. Dumping: Volume of dredged material, cub m.
7. Ballast Waters
II. ESAS AG and AC Activities in, Work Plan imlementation ……………………………………………
III. Implementation of the BSCP
IV. Enhancing cooperation
V. GAPs
VI. Priorities for future
A5. “Preparing the Ballast Water Management Strategy. Results of the Turkish Ballast Water Management Project
Reported by Mr. M. Korcak – an overview of TU National Ballast Water Management Project (conducted by TUBITAK & UMA), presentation attached.
The distance where ships can exchange ballast water in the BS is too short according to the regulations of the BWM Convention – 50nm or 200 m depth. The ships have to move very slowly or to change roots, both not convenient options. AK showed the circulation pattern of the BS (movie) demonstrating that objects discharged at more than 50 nm from the coast may find their way to coastal waters and usually do.
The TU proposal to transfer the experience from this project to the other BS states with the aim to harmonize approaches and work toward regional BW Management strategy was highly appreciated by the group. Commitment of the states to sign and ratify the new BWM Convention should be promoted. Recommendation of the AG: Letter of Support to be drafted that would indicate that the BSC is in favour of seeing the BWM Convention ratified and implemented as soon as possible in the BS region. The BSC will be watching the progress of states preparation to ratify the BWM Convention assessing the outcomes and seeing the usefulness for the Black Sea well being. The TU experience will be transferred through organizing workshops, training and initiating activities to further develop the Invasive species Data Base, Risk assessments, BW Reporting System, GIS, raising awareness, etc with the aim to: