On 25 and 26 November 2013, EMSA facilitated the first-ever EU-wide table top exercise on places of refuge for vessels in distress, which involved more than 50 participants. Almost all member states were represented at the exercise, which was hosted by the Port of Rotterdam in the World Port Centre in the heart of Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The exercise director was Hugh Shaw, the UK SoSRep, who was supported by a planning group drawn from Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Ireland, Malta and The Netherlands.

The scenario for the 'Ocean Traveller' exercise was a collision between a tanker and a container vessel in the southern North Sea. During the exercise, participants had the opportunity to exchange views on reporting and co-ordinating the incident, notification of dangerous or polluting goods, decision-making and intervention, as well as financial guarantees and liabilities, assisted by contributions from a number of independent experts in these fields.

Finally, the participants were asked to consider how their responses might be different if the collision had occurred in waters outside of the jurisdiction of any one member state. The results from the exercise will be available in the new year and will inform the European Commission’s consideration of possible revisions to Directive 2002/59/EC.

（spill-international.com,  Edited by Topco)