Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
A complex maritime exercise, “Pollex 2026”, took place today at Porto Grande in Syracuse to test integrated firefighting, anti-pollution and security procedures in the port.
To test the effectiveness of the port’s procedures for such events, a simulated fire was staged on board a cruise ship docked at berth no. 3. The ship’s captain raised the alarm with the Harbourmaster’s office operational room in Syracuse via an emergency call on VHF channel 16. In the subsequent phases of the response, a marine diesel spill was also simulated, creating a polluting slick initially located in the port waters and later spreading towards the entrance of Porto Grande and the waters off Zone C of the Plemmirio Marine Protected Area.
The Harbourmaster’s office operational room therefore activated the procedures set out in the port complex’s fire monograph, the local anti-pollution operational plan and the ship’s and port facility’s security plans. Taking part in the exercise were the Coast Guard patrol boat CP 323, the Fire Fighting tugs of the concessionaire Rimorchiatori Augusta srl, a motorboat from the provincial Fire Brigade command, the environmentally specialised units of San Giorgio Mare S.r.l., and the motorboat “Supergabbiano Sette” of the Consorzio Stabile Castalia S.C.p.A., which intervened with authorisation from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, under which it operates. These vessels were particularly involved in reconnaissance, deploying floating booms, containing the slick and recovering the simulated product, with special attention to protecting the waters of the Plemmirio Marine Protected Area.
The exercise also included a “security” component by simulating an unauthorised access on board the cruise ship docked at berth 3 in Porto Grande. The measures set out in the ship’s and port’s security plans were therefore activated, implementing the security measures for level 1, which involved more extensive access control, isolating the area affected by the breach and managing the flows of passengers, crew and port personnel, with the support of the Border Police and the Eastern Sicily Port System Authority.
The activity as a whole made it possible to verify the operational readiness of the port system, the efficiency of communications between the parties involved, the response times of the
vessels and the ability to manage a complex event with simultaneous firefighting, anti-pollution and security components in a coordinated manner.
