Port of Hull becomes scene of 'oil spill' as ABP put through paces

The Port of Hull became the scene of a dangerous “oil spill” as ABP teams took part in a mock emergency exercise.

‘Exercise Rotra’ presented a dummy oil spill scenario in which a visiting cargo vessel had accidentally released 5,000 litres of oil into Alexandra Dock, with an estimated 300 litres spilt into the Humber.

ABP’s Incident Management Team recently tackled the fictional scenario, as its response to an emergency of such magnitude was put to the test.

David Bray, Adler and Allan’s marine consultancy manager who assessed the exercise, said: “The weather conditions were challenging on the day with strong winds but after a dynamic risk assessment, the deployment turned out to be very effective and a notable strategy if a similar situation presents itself.

“ABP’s Port of Hull has a well-versed response team from the higher command level down to the ground, backed up by significant resources throughout the group.

The Port of Hull was the location of ABP’s annual oil spill exercise on the Humber (ABP)

“Adler and Allan conduct 25-30 Incident Management Exercises every year and the Port of Hull team proved to be one of the best at understanding their roles and responsibilities.”

As part of the exercise, ABP teams tackled the “oil spill” with a work boat and specialist equipment which consists of absorbent pads, booms, and waste collection containers.

Once assessor Adler and Allan’s marine response service arrived at the port, it deployed inflatable booms which created a temporary floating barrier in the water.

As the majority of simulated pollutant was in the lock pit, there was a focus to create secondary containment around the lock gates before mobilising a regulated vacuum tanker and skimmer system to skim and recover the oil.

Gary Wilson, head of marine for ABP’s Humber ports, said: “The exercise response was timely and well addressed by the whole team who mobilised to site within the response requirements.

The team at ABP which took part in the exercise (ABP)

“These exercises are incredibly valuable to our operation and the Humber."

For the first time in such an exercise, the Humber Marine Control Centre at Grimsby was also used.

Led by Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) manager Stewart Taylor, the VTS simulated real time river control throughout the exercise, using its state-of-the-art VTS simulator.

Stakeholders from the port were present including UM Storage, Siemens Gamesa and Humberside Police.

A full notification exercise was carried out by ABP including organisations such as Hull City Council and the Environment Agency.