Estonian special vessel turned to be useless in environmental pollution

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Special EVA 316 vessel of the Estonian Water Department has left zone of environmental pollution in Gulf of Tallinn, as it turned out to be useless in cleaning water from mazut slicks, a REGNUM correspondent was told in the department. “The slicks are too dispersed and have concentration that differs from the one that the vessel like EVA 316 was designed for,” General Director of the Water Department Andrus Maide said in an interview to the Estonian Radio. According to him, the concentration in the slicks is not very dense and the vessel’s cleaning facilities just sublimate sea water. Taking into consideration that the vessel’s functioning costs Estonia 200,000 Estonian kroon (about $15,500) per day, it was decided to send it to Parnu port for using as an ice-breaker for guiding convoys of commercial vessels. Representatives of the Water Department recommend waiting until the slicks reach the shore and then they could be collected manually or with the help of special equipment.

The special EVA 316 vessel for liquidation of consequences of Estonian water territories’ environmental pollution was refurbished from an ice-breaking vessel. Estonia paid 102 million Estonian kroon for the reconstruction, 50 more million kroon were given by Finland. The vessel started functioning in February 2006.