Development of Maritime Safety in the Small Ports in the Baltic Sea Region (MASAPO)

P3 Well-connected region

3.2. Improved services of existing small ports to improve local and regional mobility and contribute to tourism development

Archipelago and Islands

01.10.2015 - 31.03.2018

1.178.136 EUR

953.597 EUR ERDF

The project MASAPO aims at developing maritime safety in small ports in the Baltic Sea Region. The project tackles the lack of information about small ports and safety services in Estonia and Åland. The project develops cooperation between small ports in Estonia and Åland islands to provide better information about the ports and their safety services. The project involves pilot voluntary maritime rescue organisations to use their international experience in developing and implementing higher safety standards in the ports for tourists and local habitants.

In practice the project jointly surveys and maps the current safety situation in the participating small ports and makes development plans for the needed investments. The project does research and trains volunteers and local service providers in the pilot ports to have the necessary skills for preventive activities and for participation in rescue operations.

As a result of the project the pilot small ports in Estonian and Åland islands have tight cooperation with four local voluntary maritime rescue organisations like members of Estonian Voluntary Maritime Rescue Organisation and stations of Åland island Lifeboat Society. Partners have jointly designed a basic safety quality sign and the safety services have been improved. Through these improvements the number of visitors on the islands is expected to increase as higher safety standards improve reliability and attract more visitors to the region.

Lead Partner

Hiiu Vallavalitsus

Country: EE

www.hiiuvald.ee

Partner budget: 699.952 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 594.959 EUR ERDF

Project Partners

Alands Sjöräddningssällskap r.f

Country: FI

www.sjoraddningen.ax

Partner budget: 478.184 EUR

Amount of ERDF funding: 358.638 EUR ERDF

Expected results

Achieved results

Project result in category -
Improved small port

MASAPO - Increased maritime safety in small ports

MASAPO raised maritime safety in coastal areas and small ports. The targeted areas include western Estonia and the Åland archipelago. Increased maritime safety was achieved through training and increased capacity of voluntary maritime rescue organisations. Additionally, infrastructure development took place and rescue equipment (rescue boats, personal safety equipment and so on) was purchased in selected small ports.
 
The trainings and rescue exercises were organised together by project partners. The infrastructure development and purchases supported the training and helped achieve long-term commitment to be part of voluntary marine rescue.
 
In total, conditions, rescue capacity and service level was improved in eight small ports on Estonian islands (Kõrgessaare, Kärdla, Lõunaranna, Kuressaare, Soela, Suaru ) and on Åland islands (Rödhamn,  Kasterholm).
 
To make the developed small ports more accessible, the project published an application that allows to ‘View your marinas of interest virtually in beautiful 360°-panoramas’. The app is available in Google Play Store.

Project page in database
At a glance
  • Increased maritime safety in coastal areas and small ports
  • 8 improved small ports
  • Long-term commitment to voluntary marine rescue
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