MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY OF NEWFOUNDLAND FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE ENGR-3001 Ocean Engineering & Naval Architectural Design

Lecture notes Date: Fall 2012 Instructor: Brian Veitch

National regulations We have seen that IMO is a key part of the regulatory framework of international shipping. However, nations have their own domestic regulations as well. Ships that trade only in the states coastal waters (do not make international voyages) are not bound by international conventions. Domestic regulations are typically used to regulate such vessels. In addition, national regulations are sometimes used to provide additional detail to international conventions where the latter are seen to be short on specifications. These additional regulations will apply to ships under the nations flag. In rare cases, national governments take unilateral steps to address what they see as inadequate international standards. An example of this is the Oil Pollution Act (OPA 1990), legislation that was passed in the USA following the Exxon Valdex oil spill. OPA required that single hull oil tankers in US waters be phased out and replaced by double-hulled tankers, regardless of the country of registry. The key IMO standard dealing with pollution from ships the MARPOL Convention was subsequently amended to bring it largely into alignment with the OPA. This was an unusual occurrence due largely to the public outcry in the US and enabled by the USs economic power and status as a huge oil importer. The change has had a profound effect on oil tanker design, effectively catalyzing the fleet to become double hulled.

Brian Veitch, EN4042, Tel: 864-8970, e-mail: bveitch@mun.ca, website: http://www.engr.mun.ca/~bveitch/