A committee of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has approved ship design rules aimed at reducing the risk of oil spills from tankers.
The approval by IMO's maritime environment protection committee (MEPC) assures that the next generation of tankers will have double hulls or, despite reservations by the U.S., middeck or other designs that offer protection against pollution equal to that provided by double hulls.
The requirement for double hull or middeck design will apply to tankers larger than 5,000 dwt. Small tankers, of 600-5,000 dwt, must be fitted with a double bottom. There are no requirements for tankers of less than 600 dwt.
The enhanced design criteria will take effect July 6, 1993, for new and existing vessels from 70 nations that have signed the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (Marpol 73/78). Owners in those countries control 90% of the world tanker fleet.
MEPC also tackled the problem of existing single hulled vessels. They will be able to trade until they are 25-30 years old before they will be required to meet the enhanced design criteria.
There had been fears in some shipping circles that IMO would adopt rules that would send large numbers of older tankers to the scrapyard after 22-24 years of service.
Separate from the agreement on tanker design, MEPC urged maritime nations to assist in developing new ship scrapyards and improving existing yards. The appeal was made because shortages of scrapping sites are holding up replacement of older vessels.
Tankers also will be subject to an enhanced program of inspections in special, intermediate, and annual surveys. The scope and frequency of surveys will be spelled out in guidelines to be developed by IMO. The subject will be on the agenda for the next MEPC meeting in October.
U.S. RESERVATION
To keep the MEPC agreement from being automatically accepted, countries with 50% of the world's tanker fleet will have to raise an objection. That's unlikely to happen because all 70 governments sit on the MEPC and the only reservation came from the U.S.
After the MEPC action, the U.S. delegation said it fully supports the principles laid down in the IMO regulations because they are the same as those in the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990. However, the U.S. reserved its position because of many differences between IMO regulations and OPA.
The U.S. reservation is based on its contention that the middeck design does not offer pollution protection equal double hulls, as specified by OPA. If a tank is penetrated on a middeck vessel, incoming water pressure forces oil out of the damaged tank into other tanks until hydrostatic balance is reached.
And on the regulations covering existing single hull vessels, the U.S. delegation said the phaseout is more severe for certain size categories than that specified by OPA.
INTERTANKO SATISFIED
The International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) said it is "very satisfied" with the outcome of the MEPC meeting. Intertanko Managing Director Tormod Rafgard said his organization has urged for 2 years that tanker design should not be frozen to one concept.
"There should always be an opening for new concepts if these are equivalent or better than other designs," he said.
Intertanko also welcomed the decision to strengthen inspection of tankers.
Rafgard said accidents do not happen due to lack of rules but because of lack of compliance with rules.
The American Bureau of Shipping said it expects to take a leading role in developing guidelines for the inspection program in conjunction with the International Association of Classification Societies. The classification societies are to work with owners and operator groups to develop the guidelines.
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