“PCHMV” JSCo maintains cleanness of the water areas of ports, canals and shipbuilding and ship repair yards. It receives bilge waters (oily water) from ships and collects oil spills. At its disposal a waster treatment plant for processing oily water is operating. The latter consists of a reception collector pit, oily water receptacles of capacity approximately 3000 tons, a water heating boiler, a large pump room, a reservoir for water solution of a
luminum sulfate, treatment facilities,dryer fields and auxiliary devices. There is within the territory of the station a separate waste treatment plant of Emsher type, used for processing the sewage and waste of the Ship Repair Yard “Odessos”. Two tankers, nine oil skimmers, six boom laying vessels, dispersers, two chemical labs, experts, technicians, captains, engineers and seamen are also available.
Every day the ports of Varna and Bourgas accommodate water craft that could pollute the shore. Company owned vessels (oil skimmers) are used for reception of ships bilge mixtures which are pumped out and further transported to berth No 6. After berthing, the system for oil skimming is coupled to a special pipe conveying the oily mixtures to the Shore Treatment Plant (STP) . In case of a larger amount of sump and bilge waters the ships berth at the same quay and directly unload their waters at the Waster treatment plant.
As per the “Mandatory Rules” – an international convention implemented by the Maritime administration – Varna, oil produce cargo handling operations are obligatorily provided with boom fencing. In this case, the tanker is surrounded by booms in order to ensure prevention from possible oil spills.
The cleaning of the water areas from oil is carried out by the oil skimmers, which suck in the upper polluted layer of the water surface, bring it into their tanks and transport it to berth No6.
The non-separated and concentrated separated oily mixtures are passed to the shore station and are collected in buffer reservoirs, each of capacity 500 cubic metres. Then the bilge mixtures are set apart on the basis of the different specific gravity of the ingredients. The mixtures to be purified are subjected to mechanical and chemical treatment and after a laboratory analysis and achieved standards of decontaminated water (up to 5 mg per litre oil fraction), the cleaned water is further discharged into the sea.
The crews of the company vessels maintain regular 12 hours service. A controller office is available 24 hours a day for receiving signals about emergency spills and events demanding competent intervention.
