The Interspill 2009 Conference & Exhibition was held at Marseille, France over 12-14 May, and drew over 1000
delegates, exhibitors and visitors from over 70 countries. The conference was
held in conjunction with the 4th IMO R
&D Forum on Hazardous Noxious Substances in the Marine Environment. Interspill
was first held in 2000, organised by the UK, French and Norwegian oil spill
trade associations. In 2007 they were joined by the Dutch group, SRGH, and
IPIECA, the oil industry environmental association, and EMSA, the European
Maritime Safety Agency.
This was the 5th Interspill event, and was hosted by SYCOPOL, the French oil
spill trade association. Interspill is now part of a global Triennial series of
oil pollution conferences, the next being Spillcon in Australia, to be held in
April 2010.
The conference was opened by Bernard Tramier, Chairman of Interspill, with
addresses by Jean-Fran
çois Tallec, the French Secretary General of the Sea, and representatives from
the Maritime Prefecture, and the City of Marseille. The opening session
featured the first Triennial Marine Pollution address by the Willem de Ruiter,
Executive Director of EMSA, and was followed by a keynote session on whether
the risk posed by chemical spills was greater than oil spills.
Bernard Tramier, a native of Marseille, was encouraged by the support for
Interspill, and its partner IMO, from delegates, exhibitors and visitors, but
also appreciated the support of key sponsors including Total. At the Gala
Reception on opening day, held at the Palais de Pharo, M. Tramier and Mme
Manuella Lepoutre of Total spoke of the progress made by all the stakeholders
in this environmentally sensitive industry. At the close of the event, M
Tramier handed over to Ivan Skibinski, Chairman of Spillcon 2010.
Over the 3 days, more than 70 papers were presented covering the main topics of
spill risks from production and transportation, prevention, response and
restoration, legislation and policy, compensation funds, regional issues,
sunken oil, inland pollution, dispersants and surveillance systems.
Conference chair, Michel Girin, of Cedre said "the conference, combined with the
IMO R
&D Forum on Hazardous Noxious Substances, has proved very successful, with high
quality speakers and presentations across the range of topics. This was in
spite of budgetary restrictions imposed by the economic crisis on many
companies and agencies, and some travel restrictions caused by the pandemic
threat. IMO supported the event by facilitating the travel of government
officials and representatives as part of their Technical Development programme.
In total some 73 nations were represented amongst the audience.
Almost all the VIP's, Co-chairs and speakers on the conference programme came
and contributed as planned. Delegates to both Interspill and IMO were able to
experience both programmes, which were all well attended with speakers
benefiting from a keen and interested audience with many more questions than
time allowed. Discussions frequently continued outside the conference rooms,
some around the posters display, which complemented the platform presentations.
It is planned that all the papers and posters will be published on the
Interspill website, www.interspill.com later this year, adding to the archive
of previous Interspill conferences.
”
The exhibition featured 100 companies exhibiting, with SYCOPOL, UKSpill, NOSCA
and SRGH members leading in promoting many new products and services, and
substantial orders being announced. Alongside the main conference and
exhibition, educational workshops were held by IOPC, ITOPF and Oil Spill
Response Ltd., together with demonstrations of emergency response with oil
spill equipment by SYCOPOL members on the shore, and response to a chemical
leak of hazardous material by UKSpill member, Braemar Howells, at Parc Chanot.
Oil Spill Response, permanent sponsor of Interspill, was pleased to see the
ongoing development of the Interspill event, in terms of quality of the
conference and support for the exhibition. Operations Director, Dave Salt said
that by combining the major industry conference as a triennial programme there
was much more of an opportunity to focus industry support and ensure better
attendance by the emergency response community and response equipment
manufacturers.
Speaking on behalf of the Interspill Steering Committee, Roger Mabbott, Director
of Interspill Ltd., said the atmosphere at the Parc Chanot venue in Marseille
was upbeat, despite the economic gloom, with both delegates and exhibitors
enjoying both a wide ranging conference, a thriving industry exhibition, and an
opportunity to network at the various social events, whilst enjoying a few days
on the Mediterranean coast. The next Interspill will be held in 2012, the venue
to be announced later this year.
