The specificity of navigation in the Baltic Sea means that intensive ship traffic occurs on the main shipping routes. Therefore, there is a high risk of a collision that will result in an oil spillage; the Baltic Sea is an area that is very sensitive to this type of accident. In addition, there are sensitive Natura 2000 areas that require special protection. A case study of a potential oil spill in the Słupska Bank area has been carried out in this paper; the results of the oil spill simulations and their analyses are presented in this article. The simulations were carried out in the PISCES II oil spill simulator. The spread of oil pollutants in typical weather conditions, the size of the threatened areas and the oil’s impact time have been analyzed. Based on the results obtained from the simulations, the most adverse weather conditions for the simulated oil pollution accident in the TSS Słupska Bank region have been determined.
A key element in ensuring the safety of the port of Świnoujście against oil spills is to ensure combat units are properly equipped with oil spill collecting equipment, and that they have the ability to effectively use the existing resources. All of this should be properly reflected in the port’s contingency plans. It is also important to develop tactics for oil spill combat action that take into account both local conditions and worst case scenarios with parallel checking of these scenarios during the exercise and the table-top exercises. The use of computer simulation to forecast oil spill behaviour allows for better arrangement and more efficient use of resources and the optimum development of antipollution action and tactics. The specific location of the Świnoujście harbour, its breakwaters shape, and that shipping traffic is allowed only on the approaching waterway, may lead one to the conclusion that the port of Świnoujście is completely safe from any possible petroleum pollution after a ships’ collision and the antipollution action should focus only on maximising the protection of the coast. To verify this assumption, simulations of an oil spill spreading after a vessels’ collision were carried out. The purpose of the simulations was to determine the most unfavourable weather conditions which would lead to the port of Świnoujście being polluted, and to define the best tactics for conducting oil spill combat actions under such conditions. The simulations clearly indicated that, with a particular combination of weather conditions, pollution could occur inside the port. It could result in vessel traffic suspension and huge financial losses. Simulations were conducted using the PISCES II oil spill simulator.
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