Port accessThe area around the Getxo cruise terminal was today the scene of a training exercise to combat accidental marine pollution in the port of Bilbao, coordinated by the Port Authority. The Internal Maritime Plan, the coordination between the different players involved and the rapid response to an accidental pollution scenario in the waters of the port were successfully tested.
Some thirty professionals from the mooring company Amarradores Puerto de Bilbao, the tugboat company Remolcadores Ibaizabal and the Port Authority itself took part in the drill, both on land and at sea. The exercise was focused on hydrocarbon pollution and involved, amongst other means of containment, the deployment of a 400m anti-pollution barrier.
The port of Bilbao is one of the places in Europe with the most resources of its own to deal with this type of emergency. The
Port Authority has four containers with different containment barriers, with a total length of 1,650 m. In addition to this equipment, the barriers of industrial companies located in the port, such as Petronor, Tepsa and Esergui, as well as the resources of the mooring service and Ibaizabal tugboats, are also available. The port of Bilbao is also at the forefront of the State’s port system in terms of its capacity to deal with possible accidents caused by hazardous goods.
