The Kenyan authorities, in collaboration with the Indian Ocean Commission, are organising a regional maritime pollution simulation exercise in Mombasa from 07 to 11 July 2025. This exercise, called MASEPOLREX25, aims to :
- Test the capacity of Kenya’s institutions to respond to the risks of pollution at sea, based on the national contingency plan and the means and resources available in the country;
- Test regional and international cooperation mechanisms by implementing the guidelines of the draft regional contingency plan and requesting mutual assistance.
The organisation and holding of MASEPOLREX25 is supported by the European Union through its Safe Seas Africa programme, for which the IOC coordinates the regional component for the South-West Indian Ocean.
More than 200 officers and agents from naval, port, environmental, defence and security institutions are taking part in the week-long exercise, which is being held at four sites: the Bandari Maritime Academy, the premises of the Kenya Maritime Authority and the Kenya Ports Authority, and at sea off Nialy. In addition, some fifty representatives and experts from the region’s states, regional and international organisations and specialist bodies are taking part in the exercises. These institutions include:
- The Indian Ocean Commission;
- The Secretariat of the Nairobi Convention;
- The Regional Maritime Safety Centres – CRFIM and CRCO;
- The Eastern Africa Sandby Force;
- International Tankers Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF), Oil Spill Response Limited (OSRL).
The exercise is also part of the consolidation of the Regional Maritime Security Architecture put in place by the IOC in 2018. As a reminder, the 5 IOC Member States, Djibouti and Kenya, are the parties to the regional agreements establishing the Architecture, as well as the two regional centres, RMIFC and RCOC.
MASEPOLREX25 is also helping to finalise the regional contingency plan, in which the Regional Maritime Safety Architecture could play a useful role, and which is due to be adopted at the next COP of the Nairobi Convention in 2026.
This is the third time that the IOC, with the support of the European Union, has organised a pollution simulation exercise at sea. An exercise was conducted in 2019 in Madagascar under the name MASE POLMAR 2019 and another in Mauritius in 2023 called MASEPOLREX23.
