Sustainability

This morning, the Port Authority conducted a simulated collision involving a vessel with a fuel spill at sea. This exercise triggered the Port's Internal Emergency and Self-Protection Plan (PEI), the Maritime Internal Plan (PIM), and the Galician Regional Government's (Xunta de Galicia) CAMGAL Plan (Territorial Plan for Accidental Marine Pollution). Participants in the drill included the Galician Coast Guard with the Pesca 1 helicopter and the Irmáns García Nodal rescue vessel, Intecmar (through its Documentation and Scientific Support Unit and its Oceanographic Modeling Unit), the Port Authority of Marín, the Port Pilots' Association, the companies Amare Marín and Codisol, the Vigo Maritime Rescue Control Center, and the Vigo Maritime Authority. The drill was directed by Lino Sexto, Deputy Director General of the Galician Coast Guard and Director of the Camgal Plan. The scenario involved a collision between a fishing vessel, approximately 25 meters in length, with an unknown object. The vessel, carrying three crew members, was taking on water and had spilled about 100 liters of marine diesel into the sea. Upon receiving the alert in port, an auxiliary vessel from the Irmáns García Nodal rescue ship was dispatched to the incident area to monitor the pollution. A salvage vessel was also deployed to contain and recover the spilled fuel by deploying an inflatable boom and using a skimmer to suction the diesel. The Pesca 1 helicopter was also called in to assess the pollution situation in the area. Meanwhile, the Port Authority deployed towage equipment to bring the damaged vessel into port, and a boom was deployed to surround the vessel once it was docked. A skimmer was also used to remove the fuel. The objectives of this type of drill are to coordinate resources from different administrations in the event of a spill affecting the Pontevedra Estuary, to allow personnel responsible for the incident to practice the protocols for deploying barriers and collecting hydrocarbons, to verify the capacity to act and the response times of the different units involved, and to evaluate the effectiveness of the communication channels established between the participants.