EU phase-out

European Councillors have agreed on proposals for an accelerated phase-out of single-hull tankers. The proposals will enter into force immediately upon the European Parliament issuing approval, expected within months.

“I expect this new regulation to enter into force very quickly,” says Loyola de Palacio, vice president for transport and energy at the European Commission.

The agreed proposals will impact the ability of all single-hull tankers over 5,000 dwt, irrespective of flag, to call at EU ports. They are largely in-line with the rigorous phase-out timetable the European Commission had proposed following the 1999 Erika disaster. In 2000, the IMO?s MEPC rejected the timetable in favour of the less stringent timetable currently in force.

The tough new European mandates include the immediate banning of all single-hull tankers carrying heavy grades of oil, including heavy fuel oil, heavy crude oil, waste oils, bitumen and tar, from all EU ports. In addition the phase out of all Category 1 pre-MARPOL single hull tankers (a group to which both Erika and Prestige belonged) has been brought forward to 2005, or 23 years of age, whichever comes first. Furthermore Category 2 MARPOL single hull tankers and all other single-hull tankers over 5,000 dwt (Category 3 vessels) are subject to a final phase-out date of 2010 (2015 or 25 years of age, whichever comes first, if strengthened

structure).

All single-hull tankers over 15 years of age trading to EU ports after 2005 are required to undergo a Condition Assessment Programme, essentially a reinforced inspection regime designed to detect structural weaknesses. Tankers that fail the Condition Assessment will be barred from EU ports and will not be operable under an EU flag.

However, as the shipbroking group Simpson Spence & Young points out, the EU proposals will not affect Russian trades going through the Gulf of Finland. The European Commission is pushing for the IMO to adopt rules that will reflect its new phase-out timetable across the world fleet. “We must now try and extend these measures at the international level,” says de Palacio.

The EU proposals will be circulated among all IMO Member States and Parties to MARPOL prior to their consideration at the MEPC meeting in July. The IMO Council will be asked to sanction an additional meeting in December, at which any measures arising from the proposals will be considered for formal adoption.