Tanker disaster forces sea change as ageing fleet faces a final bon voyage

Date: 21/09/00

By Bruce Barnard

THE EU's campaign to drive ageing ships from its ports and sea lanes has made a breakthrough even before its transport ministers agree on new regulations.

The threatened crackdown has triggered a rush to quality as charterers shun tankers over 20 years old in favour of younger vessels. The impact on the market has been dramatic: the chartering of older vessels in the 80,000-110,000 tonnes range for North Sea voyages plummeted by 60% in the first half of the year.

Owners of newer vessels are "feeding on a gourmet diet of freight rates" as a result, according to London shipbroker H. Clarkson.

While shipowners and charterers do not accept that old necessarily equals unsafe, they are resigned to the EU probably accelerating plans to phase out older vessels with single-skinned hulls and make cargo owners partly liable in the event of a maritime accident.

There is little doubt that something will emerge during the current French presidency as maritime safety is a cause celebre in Paris after the 24-year-old tanker Erika sank last December, spewing tens of thousands of tonnes of heavy fuel oil onto French beaches.

The big question is how far the proposed regulations will be watered down to appease Greece, home to the world's biggest fleet of tankers, many of them in the Union's 'suspect' category. There are 278 Greek-flagged single-hull tankers and many others under flags of convenience. But there is also concern that the EU is being driven by a populist French agenda which skirts technical issues and, by trying to ape US maritime safety rules introduced after the Exxon Valdez disaster, risks undermining the inter-national campaign against substandard ships.

The International Chamber of Shipping in London recently issued a 'go slow' plea to Union legislators to avoid a rift in the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), the United Nations shipping agency.

The EU itself is divided over how to tackle substandard ships. France, Germany and Belgium will join forces at a key IMO meeting in London in October to call for older ships to be phased out. That proposal is certain to be thrown out, forcing the Union to go it alone.

Meanwhile, Greece has called for all tankers under 5,000 tonnes to be exempt from the EU phase-out, a position backed by the International Chamber of Shipping.

As the Union prepares to debate the French-crafted proposals, the industry is moving to pre-empt even tougher action by Brussels. The International Association of Classification Societies, whose members give ships their seaworthiness certificates, recently expelled the Polish society and is putting pressure on Rina, the Italian society which gave the Erika its clean bill of health, to improve its performance.

The Commission is also likely to lean on two countries negotiating to join the Union - Cyprus, an important offshore flag for shipowners, and Malta, which registered the Erika.

Article forms part of a survey on transport. The EU's campaign to drive ageing ships from its ports and sea lanes has made a breakthrough, following the sinking of the 24-year old tanker 'Erika' off the coast of France in December 1999. Even before EU transport ministers agree on new regulations, the threatened crackdown has triggered a rush to quality as charterers shun tankers over 20 years old in favour of younger vessels.