Regulators' double hull requirements for tankers in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska are likely to have widespread consequences, says an international management consulting firm.
It appears that new rules will require at least one third of the world's tankers and much of the U.S. barge fleet to be rebuilt within some legislated time frame, probably 7-15 years, says Brent Dibner, a vice-president of Temple, Barker & Sloane, Lexington, Mass.
The resulting surge in demand for shipbuilding at a time when world shipbuilding capacity is highly used will have major financial implications for shipbuilders, shipowners, and oil companies.
Congress is expected to pass oil spill legislation within 2 months, and a large number of oil pollution measures are being enacted beneath the federal level.
The costs of U.S. fleet reconstruction could be difficult to justify financially, Dibner said. Environmental concerns are curtailing Alaskan oil exploration and reducing the number of U.S. crude oil tankers needed to serve existing fields.
Those developments could result in further erosion of U.S. production and increased reliance on non-U.S. sources and shippers.
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