For a better understanding of what ecological consequences we would encounter and how we should act if the fuel flowed out in the event of a ship accident in the Slovenian sea, I presented the properties of the sea and described in detail the characteristics of the Gulf of Trieste at the beginning of my master's thesis. Although this thesis deals only with the pollution of the sea with oil and derivatives, I briefly presented the types of pollution, described the processes that occur when an oil slick spills into the sea, and how the slick spreads and decomposes, followed by an assessment of the pollution of the Gulf of Trieste in terms of hydrocarbon content.
Further on, I presented a simulation of the oil tanker Capodistria accident, how and where the oil slick would spread, and how to act if a spill would occur in this particular incident.
Given that I am a sailor, I primarily focused on the nautical aspect and tried to determine what changes could have been introduced either by the shipowner (Giuliana Bunkeraggi S.p.A) or by Slovenia to prevent the accident. As three years have passed since the mentioned incident, I presented the means that were at our disposal and the shortcomings we encountered at that time, and what deficiencies we are facing today. In the final chapter, I presented the traffic of all ships that entered Slovenian ports in 2019. With that, I wanted to point out that we have very dense shipping traffic in the Slovenian sea, which enhances the chance of a shipwreck. For this reason, I have listed some preventive solutions that could avert or increase readiness for a shipwreck and the consequent pollution of the marine environment.
I completed my master's thesis with discoverings about how we were prepared for such pollution at the time of the Capodistria shipwreck and how we are prepared for it today. I learned that the situation in Slovenia has improved. Among other things, we also acquired a new ecological vessel. The Slovenian Maritime Administration employed a port captain, who will play a very important role in such incidents. Alongside the new building of the Maritime Administration, supposedly new equipment for ship traffic control will be acquired by the end of this year. With these acquisitions, we would be able to act much faster in the event of pollution, which is extremely important, as it would remove the oil slick faster, with fewer consequences and with a lesser chance of the slick reaching the shore.
The loss of the ship Marina N., which was in constant readiness for pollution for the entire Adriatic Sea at the time of the Capodistria accident, has shown as a big downside because this particular ship could play an important role in such types of pollution.
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