All countries in the Baltic Sea Region have different preconditions when it comes to managing a large oil spill affecting the shores. We are differently organized, we have varying legislation and our coastlines differ as well as our response capacities. Only one thing is common for all – no country alone is capable of protecting all their valuable coastlines in case of a major oil spill. There is a well-established international cooperation both within HELCOM and the Copenhagen Agreement regarding offshore oil spill response. However, when it comes to shoreline oil spill response the Baltic Sea countries are lacking a platform for exchanging experiences and knowledge. This is the background for the EnSaCo project and the BOILEX exercise. The number of stakeholders involved in a shoreline oil spill response is far larger than the ones operating at sea which leads to a more complicated operation. This complexity is present also in shoreline exercises. BOILEX was no exception; we combined a theoretical table top with practical field exercises both on-shore and offshore. The exercise included 81 different organizations from 8 countries.