The entrances to the Baltic

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The entrances to the Baltic their limitations
and effect on the transport of oil, safety and
environmental concerns by Christian Breinholt at
GOING SIF International oil trading and
transportation Conference Moscow 30-31 March 2006
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The Sound Distance (Skaw Bornholm) approx.
250 nautical miles Maximum draft 7.7
meters Traffic separation scheme Between
Helsingør and Helsingborg off Falsterbo
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The Great Belt Route T Distance (Skaw
Bornholm approx. 370 nautical miles Maximum
draft 15.0 meters Deep water routes Hatter
Barn Belt off Langeland North east of
the Kadetrenne Traffic separation Scheme Hatter
Barn Between Korsør and Sprogø South of
Gedser Reporting system SHIPPOS Great
Belt Traffic VTS Great Belt Traffic
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The Sound

• In general fewer passages but larger ships
• A dramatic increase in size of tanker passages

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The Great Belt
Dead weight tonnage

• In general an increase in the size of ships
• A dramatic increase in size and number of
  tanker passages

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• The major limitations for tranport of oil are
• A maximum draft of 15.0 m in route T (equivalent
  to about
• 105,000 DWt.)
• The characteristics are
• Increased traffic density
• Strong sea current, shallow depth, sharp turns,
  coming traffic, head-on-situations

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• The effect is
• Extensive and growing volumes of ship-to-ship
  operations
• Groundings
• Collisions
• Increasing traffic of large oil tankers will
  lead to a need for allocating timeslots for
  passage of Hatter Barn and Agersø Flak

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Number and volume of Ship to Ship transfer in
Danish waters
2005 distribution on locations
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Admiral Danish FleetCivilian tasks

• CIVILIAN TASKS
• MAS
• JRCC
• MARITIME INVIRONMENT
• OIL SPILL RESPONSE
• AERIAL AND SATELLITE SURVEILLANCE
• MARITIME SECURITY
• ICEBREAKING
• VTS

AARHUS Admiral Danish Fleet

• KORSOER
• VTS

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(No Transcript)
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Groundings and collisions in the Great
Belt from 1 January 1997 to 1 July 2005 8
years and 6 months
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Delimitation of the area
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Facts on collisions
13 collisions
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• Weather conditions
• Wind and current have not been mentioned as a
  contributing factor at any of the collisions
• Visibility
• 2 collisions occurred in dense fog (visibility
  under 0.25 nm)
• 2 collisions occurred in limited visibility
  (0.5-2 nm)
• 2 collisions occurred in moderate visibility (2-5
  nm)
• 4 collisions occurred in good visibility (over
  5nm)
• There is no information on the last 3 collisions

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• Size and type of the ship
• Gross tonnage of the ships

0 99 5
100 499 2
500 3000 3
3000 10,000 3
10,000 50,000 7
Over 50,000 2
Total 22
GT of navy vessels and pleasure crafts are not
known
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• Size and type of the ship
• Ship types

Tanker 3
Bulk carrier 2
Ro-ro cargo ship 2
Container ship 2
General cargo ship 3
Reefer ship 1
Passengership 2
Fishing vessel 5
Pleasure craft 3
Other 3
Total 26
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Consequences

• None of the 13 collisions resulted in oil
  pollution
• The cargo ships involved in collisions in October
  2004 and May 2005 got considerable indents and
  was detained after the collisions
• Three of the fishing vessels sank
• One fisherman died when the fishing vessel sank
  after the collision
• Two crewmembers on a pleasure craft died when the
  craft was sailed down by a coaster

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Damage on a container ship after a collision
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Facts on groundings
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Red Collisions Green Groundings
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Where do the groundings occur?
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Hatter
Leveret
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(No Transcript)
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Resolution MSC.138(76) on recommendation through
the entrances to the Baltic Sea entered into
force on 1 December 2003
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The resolution recommends use of pilot

• On ships with draught of 11 m or more
• On ships carrying shipment of irradiated nuclear
  fuel, plutonium and high-level radioactive
  wastes
• - when following the established routing system
  through the entrances to the Baltic Sea (Route
  T)

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None of the ships involved in the 46 groundings
had a pilot on board
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The latest oil pollution in the Great Belt took
place in January 2005

• The ship was penetrated over a length of 40 m
  of the bottom
• The oil polluted the coast over a long
  distance
• More than 4,000 seabirds died or had to be put
  down

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(No Transcript)
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The Danish authorities detain all grounded ships
until it is considered safe for the ships to
proceed.
A pollution response vessel is sent to the scene
and remain standby until the grounded ship has
been set afloat and there is no longer any risk
for pollution. The ships await the authorisation
of the authorities before it may be set afloat or
continue its journey.
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Typically, it is the relevant classification
soceity which on behalf of the flag state sets
out the criteria for the ships further
navigation.
It is often necessary to lighter the ship before
tugboats set it afloat. Lightering of a grounded
ship lasts up to one week. The maximum period of
time that a ship grounded in the Great Belt had
to wait before it was set afloat was 30 days.
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Estimated costs of the grounding that took place
during last years MARE FORUM in St. Petersburg
Off-hire loss USD 1,450,000
Repair expenses USD 1,000,000
Salvage expenses USD 350,000
Environmental protection USD 30,000
Total USD 2,830,000
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Conclusion

• The Great Belt is part of the Baltic Sea, which
  is recognised by the IMO as a particularly
  sensitive area, highly vulnerable to oil
  pollution
• There is a high political and public attention
  on the risk of groundings in the Danish waters,
  particularly in the narrow straits including
  the Great Belt
• Further groundings will continue to fuel the
  negative image that the public has of the
  shipping industry

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Conclusion continued

• Not taking a pilot in accordance with Resolution
  MSC.138(76) on recommendation on navigation
  through the entrances to the Baltic Sea is
• a repellent exploitation of a legal regime
  established long before any one could imagine
  the type and size of cargo of today
• detrimental to our common goals on safety and
  protection of the environment
• and very bad business

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October 2005 DMA produced an information paper
showing that the grounded ship could have taken
pilot more than 375 times for the amount spent on
the grounding The information paper was sent to
relevant partners of the shipping
industry Strongly advising large ships always to
take pilot on their way in and out of the Baltic
Sea, and as minimum, to follow Resolution
MSC.138(76) on recommendation through the
entrances to the Baltic Sea
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November 2005 The paper was submitted to
the 24th session of the IMO Assembly
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December 2005 INTERTANKO, INTERCARGO and the
Danish authorities decided to establish the Joint
Pilotage User Group (JPUG)
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May 2006 The JPUG will be established with
participation of DMA, RDANH, INTERTANKO,
INTERCARGO, BIMCO, ICS and OCIMF
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www.dma.dk Safety Study Groundings and
Collisions in the Great Belt 1997 - 2005 can be
downloaded from the DMAs homepage under Casualty
Investigation Safety Studies
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Grounding of ELETHERIA, Panama flag, on 5 June
2005
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1
2
4
3
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Collision between German Arngast and ATLANTIC,
Marshall Islands, on 4 August 2005
ARNGAST
ATLANTIC
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Grounding of EVER MIGHTY, Panama flag, on 11
November 2005
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Collision between VERTIGO, Jamaica flag,
andZIEMIA LODZKA, Liberia flag on 7 December 2005