Double trouble

ABS President Robert Somerville said that in the rare event of a tanker casualty it is likely to be the class society, rather than the operator, that finds itself in court, and subject to monstrously unreasonable claims and penalties.

Speaking at the Annual Tanker Operator Conference he said the IMO may be bullied into adopting the same accelerated phase-out schedule that will send ships as young as 14 years to the scrappers. Clarksons estimate that 461 Category 1 tankers will be phased out by 2005. Category 1 is pre-MARPOL single hull tankers without segregated ballast tanks.

More dramatic is the accelerated phase out of 701 Category 2 single hull SBT tankers by 2010. This will impact all sectors from product tankers to vlccs and has given rise to something never before seen ? the recent reservation of a 2009 building slot by a forward looking owner.

The existing order book stands at 71.8m dwt. That will adequately address the 2005 phaseout. This year will see twice as many tankers delivered compared to 2001.

The second issue is the maintenance regime for existing single hull tankers as they age. The imposition of an artificial age limit on existing vessels removes many of the incentives for an owner to maintain his vessel to the highest standards.

The third issue is the question of developing appropriate survey and maintenance regimes for the new double hull tankers. It is only a matter of time before there is a significant pollution incident involving a double hull tanker. What we must all strive to do is to minimize the risk that the initiating cause can be traced back to a failure to maintain the vessel.