The Swedish Club welcomed ITOPF to their office in Gothenburg on 14 March 2023 to develop their cooperation and build on the long-standing relationship between the organisations. The Swedish Club staff attended on-site and online from our offices in Asia and Greece to listen to ITOPF’s presentations. The presentations covered ITOPF’s role in a pollution incident and the fate and behaviour of various spills such as oil, VLSFO, plastic pellets and HNS. The experience, expertise and extensive advice of ITOPF were showcased through case studies and examples.

The presentations followed a tabletop pollution event exercise, including a virtual reality experience. The scenario was an escalating situation that required the groups to devise a solution, such as mobilising resources to respond to the incident. It allowed participants to discuss issues during the session earlier in the day, such as communication breakdowns, inadequate resources, lack of coordination between agencies, etc. It was a very beneficial exercise as it gave the participants time to reflect on their team’s response and understand how each group behaved under pressure.

The Swedish Club Claims Executive, Patrik Del Mestre said: “Meeting with ITOPF was a great way for us to build a closer relationship between claims handlers and ITOPF responders as well as to get a better idea of what range of advice ITOPF can provide. ITOPF is a much-appreciated partner in our claims handling.”

A warm thank you to the ITOPF staff: Sue Ward, Natálie Kirk, Phil Ruck, Jamie Stovin-Badford and Shania Hughes for a successful and engaging event.

Group photo with The Swedish Club staff who participated in the tabletop exercise together with ITOPF visitors.

Phil Ruck of ITOPF presents the organisation’s role and how they work to assist members in casualty and various pollution situations.

Natálie Kirk, Technical Advisor – ITOPF, discusses plastic pellet spills.