Concerns of a Coastal State by Christian Breinholt

Groundings and collisions in the Great Belt from 1 January 1997 to 1 July years and 6 months

Delimitation of the area

Facts on the groundings

Red: Collisions Green: Groundings

Where do the groundings occur?

Leveret Hatter

Resolution MSC.138(76) on recommendation through the entrances to the Baltic Sea entered into force on 1 December 2003.

 On ships with draught of 11 m or more  On ships carrying shipment of irradiated nuclear fuel, plutonium and high-level radioactive wastes - when following the established routing system through the entrances to the Baltic Sea (Route T). The resolution recommends use of pilot:

None of the ships involved in the 46 groundings had a pilot on board

The ship was penetrated over a length of 40 m of the bottom The oil polluted the coast over a long distance More than 4,000 seabirds died or had to be put down The latest oil pollution in the Great Belt took place in January 2005

A pollution response vessel is sent to the scene and remain standby until the grounded ship has been set afloat and there is no longer any risk for pollution. The ships await the authorisation of the authorities before it may be set afloat or continue its journey. The Danish authorities detain all grounded ships until it is considered safe for the ships to proceed.

It is often necessary to lighter the ship before tugboats set it afloat Lightering of a grounded ship lasts up to one week The maximum period of time that a ship grounded in the Great Belt had to wait before it was set afloat was 30 days Typically, it is the relevant classification soceity which on behalf of the flag state – sets out the criteria for the ship’s further navigation

Off-hire lossUSD 1,450,000 Repair expensesUSD 1,000,000 Salvage expensesUSD 350,000 Environmental protection USD 30,000 TotalUSD 2,830,000 Estimated costs of the grounding that took place during last year’s MARE FORUM in St. Petersburg

The Great Belt is part of the Baltic Sea, which is recognised by the IMO as a particularly sensitive area, highly vulnerable to oil pollution There is a high political and public attention on the risk of groundings in the Danish waters, particularly in the narrow straits including the Great Belt Further groundings will continue to fuel the negative image that the public has of the shipping industry Conclusion

Not taking a pilot in accordance with Resolution MSC.138(76) on recommendation on navigation through the entrances to the Baltic Sea is: a repellent exploitation of a legal regime established long before any one could imagine the type and size of cargo of today detrimental to our common goals on safety and protection of the environment and very bad business Conclusion – continued

Safety Study: Groundings and Collisions in the Great Belt can be downloaded from the DMA’s homepage under Casualty Investigation – Safety Studies