Katastroof Läänemerel: mitte kas, vaid millal

Kertši väinas toimunud merekatastroof tuletab taas meelde neid ohte, mis valitsevad ka meie vahetus läheduses. Viimastel aastatel mitmekordistunud naftatransiit Läänemerel (eriti Soome lahes) on sundinud Soome analüütikuid oma äsjases väga huvitavas ja põhjalikus raportis tõdema: katastroof on vältimatu.

Piia Nikula ja Veli-Pekka Tynkkyneni (Helsinki Ülikooli juures asuva Aleksanteri instituudi ja Nordregio koostöös) kirjutatud 36leheküljeline raport "Risks in Oil Transportation in the Gulf of Finland “Not a Question of If – But When”" vajab minu arvates kõigekülgset tähelepanu.

Raport käsitleb ühest küljest Läänemere (eeskätt Soome lahe) väga tundlikku ökosüsteemi ning teisalt naftatransiidi kiirest kasvust tulenevat õnnetusohtu. Raportis on avaldatud väga informatiivsed kaardid ning tabelid, mis aitavad paremini mõista, kus ja millised ohud meid varitsevad. Piisab vaid öelda, et suurim riski piirkond asub Tallinna ja Helsinki vahel, kus asub Soome lahe laevaliikluse ristuv tipnemine.

Mõned iseloomulikud väljavõtteid raportist:

It is one of the most heavily trafficked sea areas in the world. According to HELCOM (2006a), the Helsinki Commission – Baltic Marine Environment Protection commission, over 2,000 passenger or cargo ships sail the Baltic at any time.

Many estimates say that the overall traffic and transportation of potentially hzardous cargo, especially oil, have more than doubled since the late 1990s. This has increased the volume of traffic and has made the traffic routes increasingly congested, especially during winter.

In addition to the increasing oil and cargo transportation traffic, the Gulf of Finland is burdened by heavy passenger traffic, especially between Helsinki, Finland, and Tallinn, Estonia (Figure 4 page 6). In 2005, this traffic comprised 40,000 vessels (HELCOM 2006b), including both passenger and freight transport.

WWF Finland released a study according to which at present only 13 out of the 50 shipping companies are committed to proper treatment of sewage (WWF Finland 2007b). All the states at the Baltic Sea area are included except the Russian Federation.

Estonia’s worries about an oil accident are understandable, because Estonia currently lacks equipment to collect spilt oil from the sea. Then again, the country to suffer most from an oil accident would probably be Finland, since the prevailing winds and sea currents in the Gulf of Finland area would divert oil pollution to the Finnish archipelago and the long Finnish coastline. In addition, despite what magnitudes of oil pollution combating equipment a country or region possesses, the consequences of a 100,000 ton oil tanker accident, if all of the oil were to be released, would be devastating for the whole Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea in general.

The Gulf of Finland has not yet been faced with a large-scale oil accident. However with the average figure of shipping accidents annually being around 140 and increasing every year, the odds are that a serious accident is bound to happen.

Muide, CIVPRO kodulehelt leiate terve rea teisigi väga huvitavaid raporteid, sealhulgas näiteks Nord Streami puudutava. Põnevat avastamist!