>Press Releases Home > Publications and press releases > Press Releases Marine Department co-ordinates anti-oil pollution exercise An annual joint anti-oil pollution exercise, co-ordinated by the Marine Department, with an aim of testing the responses and efficiency of various Government departments and oil companies in combating oil spills, was carried out at the waters off Pearl Island in Tuen Mun today (November 7). A Marine Department spokesman said : "The exercise, code-named 'Oilex 2002', enables members of the response organisations to validate key functions and demonstrate individual and team knowledge, skills and capabilities." "Moreover, the simulation of crisis management and communication systems elicit the knowledge of the incident command system during major oil spillage incidents," the spokesman added. During the exercise, a 30,000 tonnes deadweight mock tanker "Oilex 2002" was simulated to have run aground off Pearl Island with some 200 tonnes of marine fuel oil spilling into the sea from her damaged cargo tank. An oil patch of about 25 m x 10 m was believed to have stranded at a nearby beach. The exercise, the spokesman added, was divided into seven parts demonstrating the various techniques and stages in combating oil spills. These included deployment of oil containment booms, shoreline booming, aerial reconnaissance, oil recovery by skimmers, spraying of oil dispersant at sea, shoreline clean-up, and recovery of booms and equipment. Besides the Marine Department, seven Government departments and five private companies joined today's exercise. They were the Civil Aid Service; Food and Environmental Hygiene Department; Government Flying Service; Highways Department; Hong Kong Police Force; Leisure and Cultural Services Department; Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department; China Resources Co Ltd; ExxonMobil (HK) Ltd; Shell (HK) Ltd; Caltex (HK) Ltd and Hong Kong Response Ltd. About 80 overseas delegates from major international organisations of oil tanker owners also observed the exercise. As a prelude to today's exercise, a desktop exercise involving 17 Government departments and five private companies was held yesterday (November 6). Administrations of the neighbouring ports in Guangdong, Guangzhou, Macau, Shenzhen and Zhuhai also took part in the exercise. Vigorous testing of the communication capabilities and linkage among the participating units was carried out. End/Thursday, November 7, 2002
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