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Oil Pollution Regulations (U.S. and China)

U.S. Non-Tank Vessel Response Plans

The owners of non-tank vessels which navigate in the U.S. waters are required to submit Vessel Response Plans to the Coast Guard in order to comply with local regulations. Further details may be found below.
You can also find related documents on this page.

Funding Agreement

Non-tank vessel owners with a fuel and cargo capacity of 2,500 barrels or greater to carry oil are required to enter into Funding Agreements with salvors and marine fire-fighting resources. The Funding Agreements of five salvors have been reviewed and found to conform with the International Group (IG) Salvage Guidelines on Vessel Response Plans. These agreements with footers for identification are listed below.

DONJON-SMIT LLC

  • Donjon Smit Funding Agreement, and Annexes 1 to 5

    Download PDF5,807KB

  • Donjon Smit – Consent Agreement for Vessel Response Plans – 4 October 2013

    Download PDF120KB

MARINE RESPONSE ALLIANCE, LLC

  • Marine Response Alliance LLC – Version 17, January 2014

    Download PDF470KB

  • Marine Response Alliance LLC – Version 16, October 2013

    Download PDF156KB

  • Marine Response Alliance LLC – MRA OPA 90 & CA Certificate of Coverage 1 October 2013

    Download PDF45KB

Resolve Salvage & Fire (Americas) Inc

  • Resolve Salvage & Fire (Americas) Inc – Version 3 – 1 October 2013, including Appendices A-D

    Download PDF949KB

  • Resolve Salvage & Fire (Americas) Inc – RMG OPA 90 Certificate of Coverage 01 October 2013

    Download PDF35KB

SVITZER Salvage Americas, Inc.

  • Svitzer – USA Companies Version 1 October 2013

    Download PDF51KB

  • Svitzer – INTL Companies Version 1 October 2013

    Download PDF1,423KB

  • Svitzer Written Consent – Version October 2013

    Download PDF51KB

T&T SALVAGE, LLC

  • T&T Salvage LLC – USA Owner (Tanker and Nontank) Version – 4 October 2013

    Download PDF404KB

  • T&T Salvage LLC – Non-US Owner (Tanker and Nontank) Version – 4 October 2013

    Download PDF401KB

  • T&T Salvage Standard tariff

    Download PDF275KB

  • T&T Salvage LLC – OPA 90 Written Consent – 4 October 2013

    Download PDF623KB

OSRO Contract

In order to satisfy the spill response requirements, non-tank vessel owners will need to contract with either of the main oil spill response organisations, Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC) or National Response Corporation (NRC). The MSRC and NRC contracts which conform with the IG Vessel Response Guidelines are as follows;

Marine Spill Response Corporation

  • MSRC Standard Service Agreement for tank and non-tank vessels – 27 September 1996 (appended Schedules have varying dates)

    Download PDF10,142KB

  • MSRC’s Website : http://www.msrc.org/

National Response Corporation

  • NRC – Services Agreement for Provision of Response Resources for Tank and Non-Tank Vessels – 15 September 2004

    Download PDF92KB

  • NRC – Dispersant Amendment Release – December 2013

    Download PDF10KB

  • NRC’s Website : https://nrcc.com/

Washington State – Contingency Plan

Every tank vessel and every other vessel over 300 gt is required under State law to file a contingency plan prior to entry into the waters of Washington State or to subscribe to an umbrella oil spill contingency plan, instead of filing his own plan.

Contracts conforming with the IG Vessel Response Guidelines

  • NRC Washington Addendum – NRC Covered Vessels Washington State Contingency Plan – November 2013

    Download PDF33KB

  • WSMC/MSRC Enrolment Agreement – December 2013

    Download PDF99KB

  • WSMC Member MSRC Service Agreement – 16 December 2013

    Download PDF2,351KB

Alaska and Pacific Region – Alternative Planning Criteria (Non Tank Vessels)

Non-tank vessels trading to Alaska in order to fulfil federal requirements must enrol with the Alaska Maritime Prevention and Response Network, but the enrolment agreement does not conform with the IG Guidelines on Vessel Response Plans.

OSRO contracts whose terms are not in conformity with International Group guidelines

Members are kindly requested to note that the terms of some OSRO contracts in Alaska, Oregon and Hawaii do not conform with International Group guidelines. This means that owners may be exposed to risks falling outside the scope of Club cover, for which additional insurance will be needed. Those Members wishing to obtain further details of the insurance are advised to contact us.
The IG is continuing to engage with such contractors in order to seek conformity with the guidelines to ensure that additional insurance in this respect will be unnecessary in the future.

On the other hand, MSRC and NRC provide enhanced coverage in Hawaii to tank and non-tank vessel owners through their existing OPA 90 standard service agreements for oil spill response. These agreements conform to the International Group’s Guidelines for Vessel Response Plan contracts and have the following footers:
MSRC – 27 September 1996
NRC – 15 September 2004

Pollution Regulations in China

The Regulations of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) on the Prevention and Control of Marine Pollution from Ships (“the Regulations”) came into force on 1 January 2012. Under the Regulations, shipowners are required to enter into a pollution clean-up contract with a ship pollution response organisation (SPRO) before the ship enters a PRC port. The International Group of P&I Clubs (IG) has been holding close discussions with the relevant parties.

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