Oil Spill Compensation News

The reluctance of foreign banks to deal with Iran could complicate any compensation payments resulting from the collision last week of an Iranian oil tanker and a Chinese cargo ship, sources say. The tanker Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tonnes of highly flammable condensate oil, collided with the Chinese dry cargo vessel CF Crystal on Saturday in the East China Sea, causing an oil spill and a blaze that is still raging four days later. Liability has yet to be established but lawyers…

The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) – whose member national shipowner associations represent over 80% of the world merchant fleet, and the Comité Maritime International (CMI) – the international association for maritime lawyers, have released an updated brochure to promote the importance of governments ratifying international maritime conventions, especially those adopted by the UN IMO. The aim of the brochure ‘Promoting Maritime Treaty Ratification’ is to encourage more widespread ratification of some key maritime instruments that would benefit from a greater level of global acceptance. This includes a number of important instruments which have not yet received adequate ratifications from governments to enter into force globally.

A U.S. appeals court will not revisit a decision to reject BP Plc's bid to block businesses from recovering money over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, even if those businesses could not trace their economic losses to the disaster. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March voted 2-1 to authorize payments on so-called business economic loss claims, and said an injunction preventing payments should be lifted. BP asked the entire 5th Circuit to rehear the case. However, the 5th Circuit voted 8-5 to let the March ruling stand, according to a court filing made public on Monday. In a statement, BP spokesman Geoff Morrell said the company is disappointed in the decision, and is considering its options.

Four years after the Deepwater Horizon spill, oil is still washing up on the long sandy beaches of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and some islanders are fed up with hearing from BP that the crisis is over. Jules Melancon, the last remaining oyster fisherman on an island dotted with colourful houses on stilts, says he has not found a single oyster alive in his leases in the area since the leak and relies on an onshore oyster nursery to make a living. He and others in the southern U.S. state say compensation has been paid unevenly and lawyers have taken big cuts. The British oil major has paid out billions of dollars in compensation under a settlement experts say is unprecedented in its breadth. Some claimants are satisfied, but others are irate that BP is now challenging aspects of the settlement.

In line with the EU co-decision procedures both EU Member States (Council) and the European Parliament have to agree on proposed rules before final adoption. Last week the proposals of the Erika I package passed their last hurdle, and are now only subject to formal rubberstamping before entry into force in early 2003. After successfully bringing the phase-out of single-hull tankers to resolution in the IMO, the concept of separate rules in European waters was abandoned by the EU. The current EU Regulation will fully reflect the changes to the MARPOL 13G adopted earlier this year. The revised EU directive on port state control will be considerably sharpened.

The wreck of the TASMAN SPIRIT has been successfully removed. The aft section was re-floated on Saturday, March 6, and was yesterday delivered to buyers at Gadani Beach in the province of Baluchistan, Pakistan. This follows the earlier removal of the forward section of the tanker that had run aground in the channel into Karachi Port on July 27 last year. The wreck removal contractors SMIT Salvage B.V., were operating under a wreck removal contract agreed with The American Club, the vessel’s liability insurers. Speaking in London, Brian Davies, Claims Director of The American Club said, ‘We are very pleased with the outcome. SMIT have completed a difficult operation under difficult circumstances well within the required time frame.

of the Erika I package. adopted at the meeting. The third element of the Erika I package of proposals, the EU rules on the phasing out of single-hull tankers(identical to the changes in MARPOL 13G) will be adopted soon but are still being translated into all the eleven official EU languages. INTERTANKO will revert with a more detailed analysis of the adopted directives in due course. which they emerged from the so-called conciliation procedure in November. much more stringent procedures for transparency and information exchange as well as better targeting, compulsory VDRs from 2007/8 and a system for banning 'repeated sinners' flying flags with a record of poor performance in the Paris MOU area.

The European Commission proposed a range of measures on Wednesday aimed at improving shipping safety standards, including the creation of a European Maritime Safety Agency. "With these proposals ... we will be able to guarantee a European level of maritime safety in the future," an EU Transport official said. In addition to the new agency, which would check that ship inspection standards were being respected throughout the EU, the Commission proposed a new oil spill compensation fund, compulsory "black box" ship data recorders and stronger powers for national coastal authorities. The package of measures is the second set of proposed EU legislation on shipping safety since the Erika oil tanker ran aground off northern France one year ago.

Increased levels of compensation will be available for victims of oil pollution from oil tanker accidents on 3 March 2005 with the entry into force of the 2003 Protocol establishing an International Oil Pollution Compensation Supplementary Fund. The Fund will supplement the compensation available under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention (CLC) and the International Convention on the Establishment of an International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage (FUND), with an additional, third tier of compensation. Participation is optional and is open to all States which are parties to the 1992 Fund Convention. The total amount of compensation payable for any one incident will be limited to a combined total of 750 million Special Drawing Rights (SDR) (just over US$1…

ITOPF, OCIMF and INTERTANKO will be holding a series of meetings in Hong Kong at the beginning of November 2002. These meetings will bring together senior representatives from the world's oil, tanker shipping and marine insurance industries. The three organizations are therefore taking the opportunity to organize a one-day international seminar on Tanker Safety, Pollution Prevention, Spill Response and Compensation, which will be held the same week as the autumn meetings of INTERTANKO's Executive Committee and Council. The seminar will feature speakers and presentations from the associations involved as well as by specialists within their fields, including: Jan Kopernicki, Chairman of OCIMF, Dr.