“In the midst of a very large oil spill, having the right response equipment at the right time in the right location is crucial. Facility in acquiring essential equipment from one’s own nation is not enough. There needs to be an efficient process to source critical resources worldwide”.

Reflecting on the kinds of spills that may require the mobilization of international response support, one could include events resulting from …

• Acts of war – for example, the Gulf War (1991) and Lebanon spill (2006)

• Oil well blowouts – for example, Deepwater Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico (2010)

• Oil tanker accidents – for example, Exxon Valdez (1989)

• Oil pipeline ruptures (subsea and on-land)

• Oil tank farm incidents (coastal terminals and inland depots)

… and one thing is certain – however hard we try to prevent such events, they will happen again, quite likely in remote areas of the world where local and regional resources for damage limitation are extremely limited.

We do need to be better prepared and this is why the International Offers of Assistance (IOA) and Response Resource Inventory (RRI) initiatives are important.

Co-operative international support is at the heart of ISCO’s objectives and this is worthy of your support.

A special web page has been created at www.spillcontrol.org   Members should log in and go to the IMO Section, then select Work Groups and RRI Project.  

Members who feel they would like to join the ISCO RRI Correspondence Group should contact the Secretariat – [email protected]   The website has been set up in a such a way that you can very easily catch up on progress already made.