Towards a Baltic Sea Region Strategy in Critical ... - Helsinki.fi

CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION IN THE BALTIC SEA REGION
These developments accelerate the need for matching regional critical
information infrastructure protection efforts that also serve to complement the
respective strategies being planned or implemented at a national level. The
regional critical information infrastructure protection efforts could be based on the
recognition of the commonality of risks (vulnerabilities, threats and assets) and the
potential escalation or cascading of regional disruptions within the Baltic Sea
Region. Furthermore, regional efforts could be built on the potential of the extra
value accrued by having robust regional critical information infrastructure, which
translates into improved regional security, trade opportunities and other economic
spill-overs.
Finally, there is an international level beyond the region as the connectivity
of information infrastructure has a global reach. Therefore, the threat actors are
equally global in their presence and their attacks just as effective, regardless of
location. Moreover, as globalization continues to take hold, the effects of a
European or even global crisis now yields an even greater influence on the policies
and decision-making processes of individual Baltic Sea Region countries. These
realities combine to make the challenge of critical information infrastructure
protection a truly international one, requiring international initiatives and
programs that complement those at the regional and national levels.
Oil transportation and maritime safety
Chapter IV takes up the questions of oil transportation and maritime safety. It
focuses specifically on the risks in oil transportation in the Gulf of Finland. The
Baltic Sea is one of the most important passages for trade and tourism between the
Nordic and Baltic countries. It has gained in importance due to the enlargement of
the European Union and to the boost to Russia’s economic development. Oil
transportation from Russia has increased drastically with the opening of the new
Russian oil terminals.
This case study examines the situation of the increasing oil transportation in
the Gulf of Finland, and the present sea transport safety solutions for the region.
The Gulf of Finland has not yet been faced with a large-scale oil accident.
However with the average figure of shipping accidents annually being around 140
and increasing every year, the odds are that a serious accident is bound to happen.
The case study reviews the accident statistics, as well as the threat pictures
perceived by the Estonian, Finnish and Russian maritime authorities. Close-calls
and accidents in maritime transport are not new phenomena in the Gulf of Finland.
This is due to the challenging geographical conditions of the sea, difficult weather
conditions in the winter time and increasing traffic. The traffic volume is high its
central parts, in international water, where the lanes of ‘the motorway of the seas’
are located. The combination of growing oil tanker traffic in the Gulf of Finland
and the crossing fast passenger traffic between Helsinki and Tallinn cause a very
high risk.
Oil transportation has to be guaranteed all the year round and their
importance is highlighted in winter, when the Gulf of Finland freezes each year.
This demands a special design and construction of the vessels intended to sail in
the Baltic all the year round. Tanker traffic is faced with the challenges caused by
the ice thickness, as well as the pressure from the ice ridges, and especially when
manoeuvring in convoys led by icebreakers.
XXII NORDREGIO REPORT 2007:5