Representatives of the Chilean Navy, Puerto San Antonio, and the concession holders DP World and San Antonio Terminal Internacional (STI) participated in a fuel spill drill at sea, which aims to strengthen response protocols and evaluate joint operational capacity in the face of this type of emergency.
The activity allowed for the verification of procedures on the ground, the reinforcement of inter-institutional coordination, and the identification of potential opportunities for improvement in the face of a real situation.
In this regard, David Sierra, Deputy Chief of the San Antonio Port Captaincy, commented that it was “a successful day, where everything went according to plan. This drill is carried out annually and we seek to work on a rapid response to a pollution incident. The idea is to keep ourselves trained and to know each other among the various teams that would have to face a situation of this type.”
The Navy officer added that “the goal is to prevent a potential emergency from affecting, for example, the nature or the cove located next to the port.”
For his part, Maximiliano Gedvillo, Deputy Manager of Security, Occupational Health, Environment and Quality of Puerto San Antonio, highlighted that “it was very important to carry out this activity to see various aspects such as the connection of the hoses to contain the spill and thus prevent the sea from being contaminated in a real case. This is one of several actions that we constantly carry out in terms of security, as we have also organized fire and accident drills. The next step is to prepare the reports and, together with the Maritime Authority, talk with the concession holders to see what the lines of work to follow are.”
“This type of activity helps us to know what our level of preparedness is as the San Antonio Port complex and together with the Maritime Authority. Obviously, opportunities for improvement will arise and that is the idea, that we can see certain things to correct, to have a rapid and increasingly safer response,” said Juan Pablo Fuentes, manager of Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE) of DP World San Antonio.
“All drills are welcome and necessary. The important thing is that we concession holders work in a coordinated manner with the port company and the maritime authority, because the practice serves to identify improvements and see gaps, and that is what we were able to see in this activity,” concluded the President of the Joint Port Committee, Pedro González.
