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The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) network of stand-by oil spill recovery vessels in the Baltic Sea has been strengthened recently with the entry into operational service of the Tellus. This vessel replaces the Kasla, which has now been removed from the Baltic “pool” of oil recovery ships.

The Tellus is a Swedish flagged oil products tanker, which was built in 2006 and is owned by Sirius Shipping. It has a recovered oil storage capacity of over 10 000 m³.

More detailed information on the vessel is available at: http://www.emsa.europa.eu/Docs/opr/tellus_leaflet_nov2007.pdf

EMSA has also held discussions recently regarding pollution prevention in the Black Sea. Executive Director, Willem de Ruiter and Bernd Bluhm, Head of Pollution Response at the EMSA, recently visited Bulgaria and Romania to present and discuss EMSA’s latest procurement requirements for stand-by oil pollution response vessels.

The information meetings were held in Varna, Bulgaria, and Constanta, Romania, and were arranged in close co-operation with the respective maritime authorities. The primary objective was to clarify the technical and contractual details of the tender with all interested parties. Bulgarian Minister of Transport, Peter Mutafchiev, chaired the Varna event, where wider issues relating to maritime safety and the prevention of pollution were also discussed. The meetings were attended by representatives of ship owners, oil spill response equipment manufacturers, and other relevant organisations.