Oil Spill Contingency Plan

The Oil Spill Contingency Plan has been developed to conform to the Merchant Shipping (Oil Pollution Preparedness, Response and Co-operation Convention) Regulations 1998, which entered into effect 15 May 1998. The plan is designed to meet the statutory responsibilities placed on the Harbour Authority for responding to oil pollution within the harbour area.

The plan is provided to assist the Harbour Authority and other organisations in dealing with an accidental discharge of oil. Its primary purpose is to set in motion the necessary actions to stop or minimise the discharge and to mitigate its effects. Effective planning ensures that the necessary actions are taken in a structured, logical and timely manner.

The plan uses a tiered response to oil response incidents. The plan is designed to deal with Tier One and Tier Two incidents, and to provide guidance for the initial response to a Tier Three incident. Where a spillage is associated with a wider emergency, then additional factors involving the safety of personnel will take precedence over the pollution response. In this case reference will be made to Solfire.

Click here to download the Oil Spill Contingency Plan.