Abstract

Over the last decade maritime transport in the Gulf of Finland area has changed significantly. The disintegration of the Soviet Union forced Russia to start developing its own Baltic ports and terminals and to find new routes to export its oil. The Baltic States have enjoyed a remarkable economic boom, especially regarding new port and terminal development and oil transportation. Due to the fact the Gulf of Finland is a sensitive brackish water area with a unique nature and environment, there has been a growing concern with accidental oil spills and various negative impacts caused by the maritime transport. Previous large-scale accidents elsewhere may have been the driving forces behind both the publicity and the calls from experts for new requirements to improve maritime safety and develop preventive measures against future accidents. This report, commissioned by the Finnish Ministry of the Environment is an updated report of the earlier study on the Gulf of Finland's oil transport, published in 1999. The rapid changes in the oil business, new terminals and enlarging transport figures were the driving forces for updating this work. The report contains statistics on oil transport, terminal development, and it presents future development scenarios up to 2010. Much emphasis has been placed on safety-related activities and recommendation; therefore current activities to improve the safety and/or develop better oil spillage-combating measures have also been analysed and discussed.

Abstract

While gathering information about oil transportation for VTT Publication 547, Oil transportation and terminal development in the Gulf of Finland (2004), the question about other harmful substances transported in liquid bulk was raised. The Finnish Ministry of the Environment, Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE) and Finnish Maritime Administration (FMA) have made it possible for us to continue the work on tanker transportations by financing this study. The area has been widened to cover the entire Baltic Sea. This publication introduces the statistics concerning the chemicals handled in liquid bulk in the Baltic Sea ports in 2004. The data is based on the public registers, data files and announcements of port authorities and operators. A special questionnaire on transported chemicals, and specifically on bulk form chemicals, was made for ports. Some of the ports have expressed their concern about giving what they consider to be sensitive information; alas, the data in this publication is not to be considered full and complete, but it does give an indication of where chemical tankers are sailing. The latest comprehensive study about chemical transportations in the Baltic Sea was made by HELCOM in 1990 (Study of the Risk for Accidents and the Related Environmental Hazards from the Transportation of Chemicals by Tankers in the Baltic Sea Area). HELCOM statistics were gathered by a thorough collection of data in all Baltic Sea ports during the entire year of 1987. Unfortunately, this specific and time-consuming means of data acquisition was impossible with this publication due to the time scale of the project. Some of the most dangerous or most common chemicals were selected and briefly analysed on the basis of their environmental impact if released into the water. The risk of chemical outflow has also been discussed within the collision and grounding modes. A special chapter related to the Northern Baltic waters has been written on the risk of winter navigation for chemical transportation. Discussion has also been carried out on the fate of chemicals spilled on water and on the physical fundamentals when trying to control them; finally, some scenarios are presented on potentially high-risk areas. Marine chemical transportation is constantly growing in regard of the number of chemicals and the total volume of goods transported. Today, the number of different substances and compounds is quoted in thousands. A great many of these chemicals are dangerous to the environment, and even though the risk of a chemical accident is considered small due to very high standards regarding safety, it does exist. Even if chemical tankers do take safety aspects into consideration, there are a number of other ships in the same sea area, as well as a number of ships crossing their paths and meeting each other in narrow sounds or in dense traffic areas. The safety practices of chemical tankers are among the best. Maritime society has also introduced several new actions to improve maritime safety. It is a well known fact that the number of large scale oil and chemical spills has declined during the last decades. This fact shows that recent measures such as phase out of single hull tankers, stricter legislation, IMO actions, Erika packages, etc. have improved the safety of ships and routes. However, around 80% of all incidents and accidents are due to the human factor, for example human/machine interaction or cultural behaviour. Thus even though new technical means (VTS, AIS, ECDIS, etc.) have been established to improve safety, there is a lot of work to be done to prevent accidents and environmental damage.

Abstract

Climate change is a pressing issue caused by the systematic increase of greenhouse gasses (GHG). One way to avoid higher GHG emissions is through an increased use of public transportation, transitioning society away from the personal automobile. Public transportation is more sustainable than the personal automobile as its emissions per person are less and it takes up significantly less space. Sustainability is defined through the principle-based definition of the Framework for Strategic Sustainable Development (FSSD). This research studied barriers and best practices to the use of public transportation in the South Baltic Sea Region (SBSR), in cooperation with the EU funded InterConnect Project. The research team was able to use the resources of the InterConnect Project for their methods in order to discover perceived barriers and potential best practices and ideas to overcome these barriers through the stakeholder perspective. The research team concludes that by addressing the perceived barriers, a first step towards transitioning society within the SBSR towards more sustainable transportation can be done. As transportation is complex and connected to other systems, the need for a systems perspective and a strategic and collaborative approach was identified. This could be achieved through using the FSSD in the SBSR.

Abstract

This paper covers the current state of maritime oil transportation in the Baltic Sea and the development of oil transportation in the 2000s, as well as estimations of transported oil volumes in 2020 and 2030 in the Gulf of Finland. The scenarios were formulated on the basis of a current state analysis, energy and transportation strategies and scenarios and expert assessments. The study showed that the volumes of oil transportation in the Gulf of Finland will increase only moderately compared to the current status: 9.5-33.8 %, depending on the scenario. Green energy policy favours renewable energy sources, which can be seen in the smaller volumes of transported oil in the 2030 scenarios compared to the 2020 scenarios. In the Slow development 2020 scenario, oil transport volumes for 2020 are expected to be 170.6 Mt (million tonnes), in the Average development 2020 187.1 Mt and in the Strong development 2020 201.5 Mt. The corresponding oil volumes for the 2030 scenarios were 165 Mt for the Stagnating development 2030 scenario, 177.5 Mt for the Towards a greener society 2030 scenario and 169.5 Mt in the Decarbonising society 2030 scenario.