Gov't Holds Joint Exercise on Oil Spill Handling with Philippines, Japan

TheIndonesia.co - Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan is conducting joint exercise on the prevention and handling of oil spill at sea in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

The Indonesian Sea and Coast Guard (KPLP) at the Ministry of Transportation, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG), and Japan Coast Guard (JCG) are all taking part in the Regional Marpolex 2022 that is held on May 24-27.

On Thursday, May 26, the exercise focused on a real-situation scenario where training participants were asked to find the proper measures to handle of a crash between oil tanker MT Palu Sipat owned by PT Pertamina and a passenger boat that resulted in oil spills in Makassar waters.

“In the exercise that is designed to be realistic, the capabilities of Indonesian, Philippine, and Japan coast guards will be put to the test,” chief of KPLP Weku Karuntu said on Thursday, as reported by Antara.

In the made-up scenario, 800 barrels of bulk oil spilled into the sea while six of MT Palu Sipat’s crew were reported missing after jumping into sea.

“During this exercise, the personnel of Philippine and Japan coast guard will work together with Indonesia’s KPLP to carry out search and rescue effort, firefighting, and oil spill handling,” Karuntu explained.

The Regional Marpolex 2022 was commenced by Indonesian Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi on Tuesday in which he said South Sulawesi was chosen as the training’s location because it’s strategically located in Indonesia Archipelagic Sea Lanes II that plays a critical role in connecting international and domestic shipping.

“This certainly increases the risk of accidents that can result in oil spills that pollute and/or damage the marine environment. Thus, of course, the preparedness of personnel and equipment is needed to overcome shipping disasters as assistance for the Makassar Strait area,” Sumadi said.

According to the Ministry, Regional Marpolex is joint exercise held by Indonesia, the Philippines, and Japan “as a follow-up and implementation of the 1981 Sulawesi Sea Oil Spill Response Network Plan Agreement, which was made with the aim of testing and evaluating the capabilities of Indonesia and the Philippines in responding to the oil spill disaster”, especially in the territorial waters of the two Southeast Asian countries.