In the Community

As one of the leading fuel suppliers in St. Maarten, SOL ANTILLES N.V. facilitated a number of training sessions on November 7th for the staff of marinas where Sol has fuelling facilities. The training consisted of two sections, the first focused on the marina operations and procedures while the second part concentrated on oil spill training. The marina operations training is organised on an annual basis and takes place prior to the start of the marina high season. Course subjects included an overview of Sol’s HSSE (Health Safety Security and Environment) Policies, Marina receipt and delivery procedures, storage and handling procedures including inventory control and emergency procedures to list a few.

David Antrobus, General Manager of Sol remarked, “Protection and preservation of the environment is critical to Sol and is an important benchmark for the conducting of our business operations. This year for the first time the oil spill training was added as a separate session so as to emphasize the skills and resources required to proactively mitigate potential environmental hazards and protect our natural environs. This year the session was conducted by Robert Jan James, Sol’s Operations Manager who has also been trained as an IMO (International Maritime Organization) level II Oil Spill Responder by Clean Caribbean & Americas."

Sol’s oil spill training consisted of two parts. The first portion was a classroom session and the second, a practical demo session where the oil spill equipment was actually deployed with the assistance of Island Water World Marina, which was where the demo session took place. During the practical session the use of the oil skimmer was demonstrated. An oil skimmer is a machine that has the capacity to remove floating oil from water, the oil adheres to the rotating skimmer discs allowing it to be collected and removed from the environment. In addition, oil spill booms (temporary floating barriers) were deployed in the lagoon using the support vessels of Island Water World, and IGY/Isle de Sol Marina as part of the exercise. In a real life situation, booms are used to reduce the possibility of contaminating shorelines and other natural resources, and to help make recovery of oil easier. Sol confirms the availability of its quick response oil spill cart which can be deployed without delay in case of an oil spill.

The Training was attended by staff members of, Island Water World Marina, La Palapa Marina, IGY Marinas and Sol management and staff. Safety is very important to Sol as a result, the Company makes every effort to ensure its staff and associates are adequately trained in these procedures annually