Cedre

About Cedre

Cedre is competent in the field of  oil and chemical spills of marine and inland waters . Its clients and partners, public authorities and industrialists, are from many countries.

It was established in 1979 as part of the measures taken after the oil spill caused by the sinking of the Amoco Cadiz, to provide expert advices and services to authorities responsible for the interventions.

Cedre is providing with a technical, scientific and operational assistance 24 hours a day, remotely from its CS and if the situation requires it; can go directly in the event of an accident within the crisis management centers set up by the Authorities or on field, as close as possible to the responders.

As part of its mission to prepare for the response, it provides training in various languages at all levels and conducts drafting of contingency plans, studies and research on products, materials and techniques.

Cedre relies on a team of about 50 persons, mainly scientists specialised in different fields (water, chemistry, biology, oceanography, navigation, oil, oil production, etc.).

Status

Cedre has an association status; it shall in particular ensure a public service mission for the benefit of the French authorities; In parallel, it operates in a contractual framework all over the world, for the benefit of industry and foreign authorities.

It is certified by the French State to carry out missions of general interest, expertise and support to sea authorities, seaports, coastal areas, lakes and rivers, and to intervene along with the services of the State in the management of accidental pollution occurring in French waters.

Cedre is managed by a board of directors whose members are from French government departments, local authorities, public research institutions and private industry.

Cedre's scientific and technical orientations are studied in a strategic committee composed of members of the board of directors and other structures involved in spill response or related topics.

Obligations and responsabilities

For decades, Cedre has intervened for the benefit of public authorities and industrialists on accidental pollution affecting seas and oceans, seaports, coasts, lakes and watercourses, concerning hydrocarbons and all other dangerous substances, excluding radioactive products.

 Cedre acts:

upstream of pollution, through the preparation of structures, organisations, services and teams, through actions:

• contingency planning, including a risk and means analysis;
• training courses at Cedre in Brest or on the sites of partners and clients, regardless of the location in the world, of operators, team leaders and managers of crisis management centers, (approx. 1000 persons/year);
• research: mainly assessing the characteristics, behaviours and impacts of potential pollutants (Oil and HNS) and assessing, improving and adapting the means, materials, products and techniques of control;
• training and exercises of response and control teams;
• and information, in particular through the development of technical guides for operators and decision-makers involved in crisis management.

during pollutions, ensures a 24-hour standby to provide remote advice and / or mobilize its deployable response team anywhere, in a few hours, for services

• advice, expertise and technical support to crisis management authorities and teams in charge of control operations,
• laboratory analyses, studies and experiments to characterize the pollutants, their behavior and their evolution, the risks they pose to people and the environment;
• continuous evaluation of applicable equipment, products, methods and response techniques;
• operational management of data.

after pollution control operations, by means of environmental monitoring

Cedre is in compliance with the ISO 9001: 2008 and 14001: 2004 standards for which it is certified.

Cedre contributes to the Mediterranean Assistance Unit (MAU) by providing technical advice from its offices in Brest or directly on site. In the case of marine pollution, the response of Cedre is activated by REMPEC after reception of a request of assistance from a Contracting Party to the Emergency Protocol or the Prevention and Emergency Protocol to the Barcelona Convention.

Role and/or Services

In the event of an incident, Cedre provides information on the pollutant and on appropriate response techniques. In an emergency, the centre can conduct laboratory testing and study the pollutant's behaviour and weathering, the efficiency of response techniques and the impact of the pollution on the environment, using its experimental tools.

Cedre provides adviceon the most appropriate response strategies, techniques and equipment. Its experts can be dispatched on-site to assist the operational command in conducting surveys, contribute to incident management meetings, recommend actions to be taken and define the resources required, provide advice on clean-up site set-up and train responders.

Cedre does not supersede response managers, but rather assists them by providing decision support 

Resources

(if applicable):

Within a confined 3-hectare site, Cedre’s facilities include a 6,000 m² man-made beach and a 1,800 m², 2.5-metre deep water basin where pollutants can be released in order to carry out training and trials without putting the environment at risk.

Its trial hall houses a flume tank, known as the polludrome, and a 5-metre high experimentation column, which is used to study the fate of substances in water. A burn test bench and a chemistry test bench are also available.

Its facilities include a greenhouse for experimentation on living organisms, which contains stock and exposure tanks. Cedre has also installed an ecotoxicology bench and equipment to assess acute ecotoxicity according to OSPAR tests requirements.

The laboratory is fitted with advanced analytical equipment (GC/MS, GC/MS/MS, multifunction autosamplers, GC/FID, HPLC, automated sample preparation systems, etc.). Specialised test systems are available to study the behaviour of oil products and assess the performance and impact of response products (IFP, WSL and MNS dispersant tests, sorbent tests, etc.)

Procedure

In the framework of the MAU, Cedre can be mobilized through REMPEC’s emergency procedure:

The first communication by the Contracting Parties should be made through the OFFICER-ON-DUTY at REMPEC by:

• a phone call on the Emergency line, operational 24/7;
• sending an e-mail at the Emergency email.

Cedre can also be mobilized directly by Contracting Parties, via its emergency number.

Conditions

In the framework of the MAU, REMPEC shall cover the initial costs of the sending of REMPEC officers and /or the Mediterranean Assistance Unit: air ticket, daily subsistence allowance and possibly fees on a pre-arranged basis.

In case of direct mobilization by a Contracting Party, all costs related to Cedre’s assistance will have be to be covered by this Party.

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