The rescue scenario is that a cruise ship has a series of explosions onboard and collides with an oil tanker in bad weather, resulting in causalities and a major oil spill.

Tons of popcorn will be used for "oil", which has of motivated a few jokes and laughs onboard: who popped tons of corn, and how will they spread it – will popcorn come flying out from the funnel? I am sure we will get answers to these questions very soon.

While we make silly popcorn jokes we are aware of the sad facts:

- The number of tankers from Russian harbours increases from 166 in 2002 to at least 650 in 2015 (according to a little fact sheet I got from Barents Rescue 2005).

- These dangerous shipments are still allowed to go as close to the Norwegian coast as 12 nautical miles (around 22 kilometres for a landlubber) which is not safe distance if there is an engine failure and the tanker starts to drift towards the coast.

- Tugboats can be at a distance of many hours; the coastline between Kirkenes and just south of Lofoten islands is patrolled by 2 tugs in the summer and three in the winter. It’s pathetic in a country that has earned unexpected billions of dollars because of elevated oil prices this year.

- Experiments have also shown that gathering oil in floating ice is almost impossible.

Do we really have to wait for that major accident to happen (no popcorn then) before the Norwegian government wakes up and does something to improve the situation? And can they really think it’s clever to establish oil rigs up here?

The wind picks up as I write this, I can feel the ship bump against the fenders. We are sheltered here in the harbour, but the rescue drill has started - it is probably getting rough for those out there. We just saw a boat full of journalists leave port, probably heading for the rescue drill. I bet there are a few that wish they had stayed on land.

-Iréne