Port of Dover hosts Maritime Emergency Conference

The Port of Dover welcomed around 250 delegates this week from official agencies based in Kent taking part in Exercise Manchex 2011. This biennial all-day maritime exercise conducted by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and held at Cruise Terminal 1, was entitled 'Maritime Emergency Preparedness for the Olympics'.

It was held in partnership with Port of Dover Police, Kent County Constabulary, the French Coastguard, RNLI, ferry operators and other emergency services.

The exercise included presentations from both national experts and local responders covering the Olympics, Coastguard Operations, Pollution and Command and Control, coupled with challenging questions for the delegates to discuss and debate.

As part of the programme, Port of Dover's Steve Atmore, one of a team from the Port heavily involved in planning for the Olympics, gave a presentation on the key issues for the Port and Kent as a whole, followed by a question, discussion and feedback exercise. Steve said: "This was an ideal opportunity to share knowledge and experience and to further contribute to Kent's resilience and Olympics planning in what will be a key UK gateway for the 2012 Games."