Workshop on oil spill response held in China

Organisations and Associations - July 11, 2012

A workshop and meeting hosted by the China Maritime Safety Agency (China MSA) to enhance cooperation bewteen the IMO, China MSA and IPIECA on preparedness and response to oil spills took place recently. Another aim of the event was to promote China’s capability to tackle oil spills.

The event was held 19–21 June 2012 in Qingdao, China, and was attended by over 70 delegates from the relevant international organizations, government and industries.

The broad conclusions of the workshop were that there is a considerable and changing risk of oil spills in China.

There are systems in place with significant capacity to meet that risk but given that these risks are constantly in flux, these systems need to be adjusted and improved in the light of lessons learnt from recent major incidents.

One area for improvement is to strengthen cooperation between government and industry.

In the afternoon of the second day, the workshop turned into a meeting dedicated to the strengthening of cooperation between government and the industry on oil spill preparedness and response.

With a view to achieving the objectives of the GI process through concrete and practical activities, the participants agreed to the establishment of an informal oil spill preparedness and response technical consultative group, and approved the options for a biennial programme of joint GI activities.

It is intended to launch the new GI China Programme in 2013.