Today we meet at the Norwegian Coastal Administration Center. After arriving we set into a room and a man that is working there presented us about the center, what they are doing there and what are their responsibilities. We learned that their aim related to maritime safety, maritime infrastructure, transport planning and efficiency, and emergency response to acute pollution. Furthermore, we watched a video about “Full City’’ oil spill accident that took place in in 2009, and how NCA coped with the situation.

Afterwards, we went to see the equipment that the ones from NCA are using in order to clean the water in case of oil spilling. We received information about the training that is necessarily for the workers in case of disasters. After the tour of the NCA in which we saw how they are testing the density of the oil and the cleaning of it from the water, we were split in two groups. One group went to see the incident command facilities. It was very interesting to see how they divided the departments on rooms, and in case of disasters how they organize their activities in order to face them. The other group went to see how the coastal traffic is managed. Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) is an international service that is managed in Norway by the Norwegian Coastal Administration to improve safety at sea and protect the environment. The maritime traffic control centres prevent incidents and accidents by monitoring and regulating ship traffic in defined areas along the Norwegian coast.

It was very interesting to find out how NCA is working in case of emergencies and how well prepared are they. I really enjoyed this trip and I have learned a lot of things.