Port accessAround twenty port community employees have today taken part in Bilbao in a marine pollution drill coordinated by the Port Authority. The drill, held in the area around the Itsasmuseum, near the Ramón de la Sota Quay, successfully tested the Port of Bilbao’s Inland Maritime Plan for accidental marine pollution, the coordination between the different players involved and the response to an accidental pollution scenario in the river.
The drill began at 11.30 a.m. and lasted approximately one and a half hours. Vessels from the Port Authority, from the company providing the mooring service and tugboats of the Port of Bilbao all took part. One of the first and most important actions of the team deployed was the positioning of a 400-metre oil boom system and, subsequently, the use of other resources to contain and mechanically collect hydrocarbons at sea.
The Port of Bilbao is at the forefront in Europe in terms of being equipped with its own resources to deal with this type of emergency. To combat marine pollution, the Port Authority already has five containers with different marine containment booms, with a total length of 2,050 metres. This equipment is further complemented by the booms of industrial companies with premises in the port, such as Petronor, Tepsa and Esergui, as well as the resources of the mooring company and Ibaizabal Tugboats.
Likewise, the Port of Bilbao is a leader in the Spanish port system in terms of its capacity to respond to possible accidents involving hazardous goods.
