An exercise simulating the response to an oil spill incident off the coast of Delimara was held this morning by Transport Malta (TM), in conjunction with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) and several local stakeholders.

The primary aim of the exercise, held annually, was to attest Malta’s preparedness to handle such incidents.

All operations were being directed from TM’s Emergency Control Centre in Marsa, with participation of the Armed Forces, the Police, Mepa and Civil Protection Department.

The exercise, a realistic scenario of a real life oil spill incident, commenced yesterday afternoon with the receipt of a “report” of a collision between a tanker and a cargo vessel with the former requesting assistance.

The simulated scenario included a spill of about 400 m³ of heavy oil as a direct result of the collision. Response vessels were mobilised after the accident and clean-up operations commenced early this morning.

The exercise included the mobilisation of vessels, offshore pollution response equipment and a desk top exercise. The equipment employed during the exercise was procured as part of a €1 million project aimed at increasing Malta’s capability to respond to vessel sourced pollution.

This project was supported by a grant from Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway through the EEA financial mechanism.