Updated at noon with CPD statement

The Civil Protection Department does not yet have the necessary equipment to tackle a major accident related to the LNG tanker in Marsaxlokk, documents published by the Environment and Resources Authority show.

In written observations made in July as part of the ongoing consultation process on the new gas-powered station, the CPD said that it needed specialised equipment, including industrial fire engines, to tackle major emergencies on land.

But in a statement this afternoon (see below) the CPD said it has since procured the necessary equipment.

Declaring it had no objection to the issue of the environmental permit which the new power station requires to start operations, the CPD had cautioned that certain conditions should be imposed.

“Two brand new industrial fire-fighting response vehicles are to be procured for the purpose of responding to any LNG incident in the event that all the safety and precaution measures within the plant fail,” the CPD said.

It also asked for a raft of other LNG-related equipment, including high- and low-expansion foam, LNG detection equipment and explosion-proof radios.

Two new industrial fire-fighting response vehicles will respond to any LNG incident in the event safety measures in the plant fail

While insisting on specific training for its personnel, the CPD pointed out that it would not be held responsible for accidents related to the LNG tanker itself.

“The CPD will not be taking care of the marine side of the projects”, which include the jetty via which gas will be transferred from the storage tanker that will be moored there for the next 18 years.

“As things stand today, the CPD lacks the expertise, assets and resources to tackle the emergency response from the marine side,” it noted.

“In the event of an emergency, the CPD will still take on its role of coordinating emergency response with other stakeholders – such as Transport Malta in this case,” it said.

Transport Malta took exception to the CPD and refused to assume any responsibility in case of an accident involving gas.

“While Transport Malta would assist as required in the event ofa marine-related incident, the respective competencies have to be clearly defined and in line with the applicable legal provisions”, the transport watchdog insisted.

CPD sources told this newspaper that although improvements had been made since it submitted the written observations, it was still not in a positon to tackle any incidents related to the massive tanker, particularly as it had no equipment to tackle an accident on the water.

“The fire engines required have been procured and staff has already been sent for specific LNG training in the Netherlands. More officials will be going in the coming weeks,” the sources said.

“However, the department still lacks marine fire-fighting equipment, basically a sea fire engine, and won’t be able to tackle any fire or explosion on the LNG tanker itself or on the jetty,” they added.

According to the other studies published, the LNG tanker and the ship-to-ship LNG transfers for the sake of refilling pose the highest accident risks in the whole LNG plant project.

The studies show that a refilling operation will take place once every six weeks when an identical tanker will berth alongside the first to transfer gas into the hold of the storage tanker.

This operation is expected to take five days every time.

The issue was recently also raised in Parliament by Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Abela. He stressed that enough vehicles and personnel would be deployed to Marsaxlokk to prepare for any eventuality in connection with the new power station.

All necessary equipment procured - CPD

In a statement this morning, the CPD said the document published by ERA referred to observations done in July 2016.

Since July, it made the necessary arrangements to be ready and able to tackle, in the remote possibility of any event, that may occur in the new LNG Plant in Delimara.

"All the necessary equipment related to LNG and referred to in the article has been procured and is already in possession of the CPD or will be delivered within the next few weeks. A new temporary fire station will be built in Delimara, while a permanent Fire Station will be built once the necessary permits and procurement procedures are followed."

It said it was also in the final stages of procuring two industrial vehicles, which will be delivered next year. In the meantime one industrial vehicle has been procured from the UK and CPD will dispatch another fire engine to cater for any eventuality, in the Delimara Fire Station.

Members of the Civil Protection Department received specialised fire fighting training at a specialised facility in Rotterdam operated by FALCK safety services, a renowned company in fire-fighting training and equipment. More would be trained in due course.

As regards the maritime sector, agreements were made to use Tug Boats under Transport Malta’s Harbour Towage Agreement.

ivan.camilleri@timesofmalta.com

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