Baltic Sea Portal

14.9.2009

The oil spill response ship, which belongs to the Navy, will be repaired, and its equipment will be modernized. It will get a new electricity system, new auxiliary machines, a new emergency generator, a new machine control system, new systems for navigation and oil collection, and new accommodation facilities.

Halli is at present the largest oil spill response vessel in Finland. The modernization will improve its efficiency and safety and make it more environment-friendly.

The modernization works will be carried out by the Helsinki dock of STX Finland Cruise Oy. The work will start this autumn and it is expected to take 8 months. Halli will again be available for operative oil spill response measures in spring 2010.

Finland has at present 15 vessels with special equipment for oil spill response measures. Halli is one of the largest of them. The Navy and the Finnish Environment Institute have also jointly commissioned a vessel which will have capacity for oil spill response measures in ice conditions. The ship is presently being built. It will be taken into use at the beginning of 2011.

The overall development of the oil spill response capacity as well as the operative leading of oil spill response measures in open sea areas belong to the responsibilities of the Finnish Environment Institute. The annual number of oil spills in Finland amounts to some 2000. Most of them take place in land areas. The emergency duty of the Finnish Environment Institute gets annually some 160 reports of serious oil spills. The rapid growth of sea traffic has increased the accident risk in sea areas. 

More information 

Mr Jouko Pirttijärvi, inspector, Finnish Environment Institute,
firstname.lastname@ymparisto.fi, phone +358 400 618 997

Mr Jouko Kunnari, sales manager, STX Finland Cruise Oy,
firstname.lastname@stxeurope.com phone +358 40 590 3439