The deployment of a second ship to combat oil spills in the Black Sea in 2011 should be in a Bulgarian port, the Bulgarian Maritime Administration (BMA) said in a statement on February 22 2011.

To date, the only such ship is anchored in the Romanian city Costanta, according to the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA).

The EMSA was set up in response of the Erika disaster, a tanker which sank off the coast of France in 1999, causing one of the greatest environmental disasters in the world.

As a consequence, EMSA aims to contribute to the enhancement of the overall maritime safety system across the European Union. According to its mission statement, its purposes include risk reduction of maritime accidents, management of marine pollution from ships and the loss of human lives at sea.

According to the BMA, the availability of another such vessel in the region would vastly enhance the capacity to deal with incidents and reduce the reaction in the case of an accident. It is essential however, for the ship to be in a Bulgarian port.

The prospective vessel will be selected through a public tender, organised by the EMSA, at the BMA headquarters on February 22, Dnevnik daily reported.