Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 2003)

News

EU Single-Hull Phase-Out Elicits I MO Scorn

Taking a page from OPA 90, the

European Union has officially adopted its unilateral plan for accelerated phase- out of single-hull tankers. The regula- tion was published in the October I edi- tion of the Official Journal of the

European Union and came into effect on

October 21, 2003. It provides for, among other things, the immediate ban on transport of heavy grades of oil in single-hull oil tankers of 5,000 dwt or above to or from EU ports and the accel- erated phase-out of single-hull oil tankers on a schedule tied to the ship's

MARPOL category.

The move drew immediate negative reaction from the International Maritime

Organization (IMO). an organization

Circle 241 on Reader Service Card

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Secretary-General of IMO, Mr. William A. O'Neil, was disturbed by new EU rules to accelerate the single-hull tanker phase-out. which generally frowns upon such national or regional action. In a state- ment released October 23, Secretary-

General of IMO, William A. O'Neil. expressed serious concern about the

European Union Regulation on single- hull oil tankers. O'Neil was particularly disturbed at their unilateral character and the negative repercussions the measures would have on the shipping industry, which, due to its international nature, makes it imperative that safety, security and environmental standards must be established on the basis that they would be applied globally.

The statement indicated that he was particularly disappointed for two rea- sons: • the decision not to choose IMO as the international forum for considera- tion and adoption of such measures as those brought into force by the

European Union flew in the face of

IMO's successful response to challenges which followed the 1999 incident involving the tanker Erika - a response which had been received with satisfac- tion by all parties concerned, including the European Union members; and • because the Organization had already agreed to adopt a "fast-track" approach to accommodate European

Union environmental concerns arising from the Prestige accident, particularly to consider the accelerated phasing-out of single-hull tankers. To this effect, the

Membership of IMO has agreed to con- vene a special meeting of the Marine

Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) in December to consider amendments to the MARPOL

Convention, as proposed by the

European Union members, with the aim of securing agreement to new global standards.

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