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New rules introduced by the International Maritime Organisation that marks
the beginning of the move to phase out the single hull tankers will enter
into force on 5 April 2005.
The new rules will be enforced worldwide through the amendments to Annex I
of MARPOL 73/78.
MARPOL (Annexes I and II), which has been ratified by 130 countries,
including Malaysia, revises the existing regulation 13G on Prevention of
accidental oil pollution.
The revised regulation brings forward the phase-out schedule that was first
established in 1992, and revised in 2001 for existing single-hull tankers.
It says that tankers which are single hull should be phased out or converted
to a "double hull" by the dates set out in the revised regulation.
The revised regulation allows signatory countries to permit continued
operation of category 2 or 3 tankers beyond its phase-out date in accordance
with the schedule subject to satisfactory results from the conditions of
assessment
However, the continued operation must not go beyond the anniversary of the
date of delivery of the ship in 2015 or the date on which the ship reaches
25 years of age after the date of its delivery, whichever is earlier.
Meanwhile, Singapore in a move to encourage bunker tanker owners to renew
their fleet early has introduced several new incentives to defray their
operating costs, thereby encouraging them to adopt the operation of the more
environmentally friendly double-hulled tankers.
One of the measures comes in the form of port dues waiver for new
double-hulled bunker tankers that are first licensed between 15 March 2005
and 31 March 2008 for a period of five years.
The incentive to encourage early renewal of harbour bunker tankers will
further raise Singapore’s bunker service quality through improved
operational efficiency of the tankers.
To tie in with the objective of encouraging early renewal of bunkers
tankers, Singapore will also remove the 50 per cent port dues surcharge cap
for bunker tankers that are 20 years old and above.
This is to deter bunker tanker owners from continuing to operate old
single-hulled bunker tankers. |
