Oil transportation in the Baltic Sea and Gulf of Finland poses transnational risks to the marine environment. Maritime oil transportation is also vulnerable to security threats, an area of less attention in the Baltic Sea. Traditionally, improvements to maritime safety regulation have realized only after major accidents. Post-accident policies are not very comprehensive and may be biased by the characteristics of a certain accident. In general, the cost-effectiveness of policy instruments to increase maritime safety is poorly studied. The limited resources for improving maritime safety should be optimally distributed to obtain maximum benefit.

In order to effectively compare the elements of safety management system and different management options, a detailed view about the current state of the system is needed. In addition, risk assessment based on realistic traffic growth scenarios, accident probabilities and their likely consequences are essential to evaluate the options. MIMIC project has comprehensive, holistic approach to risks related to maritime oil transportation in the Baltic Sea.

The MIMIC project integrates the knowledge from earlier projects and new information on the less studied aspects of accidents. The objective is to study and compare the effect of different management actions to avoid accidents, giving insight to the cost-effectiveness of these measures. Based on the modeling work, the most effective measures will be identified, and possible recommendations will be presented. One of the new and specific aims of the project is to view the problem both form the point of private companies and society and to try to find ways how society can influence the private activities in most effective way to decrease the risks. A totally new element is to link the safety and security issues, where the same actions can support both interests, and same methodology can be used to assess the risks. The main deliverables are an Integrative Probabilistic Model for comparing the management actions and SmartResponse Web application for decision analysis and support.