Politicians in the United States are moving ahead with calls for legislation requiring cargo ships to have their bunker tanks protected by double skins.The issue has assumed heightened importance in the United States after a bunker spill in San Francisco Bay in November. US Senator Frank Lautenberg this week introduced two oil spill prevention bills.
One called for cargo ships to have double-skinned fuel tanks to reduce the risk of an oil spill in the event of an accident.
The other would increase federal liability limits for spills and would eventually put an end to any liability limits on single-hull tankers.
US Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed similar legislation in January.
The spill in San Francisco Bay involved the container ship Cosco Busan. It spilled some 220 metric tonnes (mt) of intermediate fuel oil (IFO) after it grazed the base of San Francisco's Bay Bridge, rupturing the side of a single skin bunker tank.
Lautenberg's proposal echoes international regulations that require oceangoing freight vessels on international voyages to provide extra protection for fuel tanks from 2010.
An International Maritime Organization (IMO) protocol says ships delivered after July 2010, and with an aggregate oil fuel capacity of 600 cubic meters (m³), must have bunker tanks protected by more than a single hull.
But US politicians calling for unilateral action say the IMO regulations do not go far enough and anyway might not be enforced. Lautenberg's proposal would cover existing tonnage as well as new-builds.
One called for cargo ships to have double-skinned fuel tanks to reduce the risk of an oil spill in the event of an accident.
The other would increase federal liability limits for spills and would eventually put an end to any liability limits on single-hull tankers.
US Senator Dianne Feinstein proposed similar legislation in January.
The spill in San Francisco Bay involved the container ship Cosco Busan. It spilled some 220 metric tonnes (mt) of intermediate fuel oil (IFO) after it grazed the base of San Francisco's Bay Bridge, rupturing the side of a single skin bunker tank.
Lautenberg's proposal echoes international regulations that require oceangoing freight vessels on international voyages to provide extra protection for fuel tanks from 2010.
An International Maritime Organization (IMO) protocol says ships delivered after July 2010, and with an aggregate oil fuel capacity of 600 cubic meters (m³), must have bunker tanks protected by more than a single hull.
But US politicians calling for unilateral action say the IMO regulations do not go far enough and anyway might not be enforced. Lautenberg's proposal would cover existing tonnage as well as new-builds.