Oil spill robot

The Port of Gothenburg is the site of the largest energy port in Scandinavia where crude oil is brought in and refined into petrol, diesel, asphalt and other products. Despite very strict safety stipulations, the port felt the need to invest in additional backup should an accident occur.

Dan-Erik Andersson, head of operations at the Energy Port in Gothenburg, said: “What is most important is that the oil is contained as quickly as possible to allow clearance to begin.”

The SEK 3.5m robot is in effect an automatic GPS-controlled boom. In the event of a spill, a button on the wall activates a torpedo-like unmanned craft that travels around the dock towing a 400m long boom half a metre below and 20cm above the water.

“The robot tows the boom from one pier to another. It could be said that it forms a large bag in which the oil is collected. It has already been in operation once for testing and the results were good,” added Mr Andersson.

Compared with the customary approach of towing booms manually using boats which can take half an hour, the automatic boom takes only around 10 minutes to contain a spill.

The Port of Gothenburg and local company SP Marine, developed the automatic boom in a project that commenced five years ago.

Similar robots are used in Malmö and are being developed in Stenungsund.