Ship-source pollution workshop enhances knowledge in spill response with Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration

ITOPF spent time in China with the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration (MSA), where it hosted a workshop on responding to incidents of ship-source pollution at-sea and on shorelines.

Across the workshop, ITOPF covered a range of topics including the pollution risks faced by today’s shipping community, including the emerging, alternate marine fuels and hazardous noxious substances (HNS) cargoes.

Best practises were shared between the two organisations, along with previous response experiences, and ITOPF was able to extend its professional understanding on the challenges it has faced responding to pollution events worldwide across its 55 year history. 

As part of the workshop, ITOPF delivered its interactive table-top spill exercise for Shanghai MSA participants, in which they were tasked with managing the response to a mock scenario pollution event, tackling resource management, applicable clean-up techniques, waste management among other aspects of a response. This included using its Virtual Reality (VR) aerial surveillance application, placing users in a virtual aircraft as they observe a pollution event.

Alex Hunt, David Campion and Marie Lee were on hand to deliver the workshop and ITOPF thanks the Shanghai MSA for its enthusiastic participation in this event.