In August 2004 the United States passed the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act (The Act). The Act directed the US Coast Guard to issue regulations requiring the owners or operators of foreign and domestic non-tank vessel to prepare a Vessel Response Plan (VRP) for each applicable ship addressing the discharge of oil in US waters. VRP’s are to be submitted to the US Coast Guard by 8 August 2005.
A non-tank vessel is defined as being a self propelled vessel of 400gross tons or more, other than a tank vessel, that carries oil of any kind as fuel for main propulsion and which operates on the navigable waters of the United States or is a vessel of the United States
Unable to produce the formal regulations within the tight time frame laid down in the Act the US Coast Guard has issued Navigation and Inspection Circular (NVIC) 01-05 (PDF, 576KB). The aim of the NVIC is to provide guidance to owners and operators to help them develop and submit their plans.
In brief the VRP must:
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be consistent with the requirements of the National Contingency Plan and Area Contingency Plan;
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identify the qualified individual having full authority to implement removal actions and communicate with the appropriate Federal official and the persons providing personnel and equipment;
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identify and ensure by contract or other means approved by the Coast Guard the availability of private personnel and equipment necessary to remove to the maximum extent practicable a worst case discharge (including a discharge resulting from fire or explosion), and to mitigate or prevent a substantial threat of such a discharge;
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describe the training, equipment testing, periodic unannounced drills and response actions of persons on the vessel, to be carried out under the plan to ensure the safety of the vessel and to mitigate or prevent discharge, or the substantial threat of a discharge;
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be updated periodically; and,
- be re-submitted for approval of each significant change.
The US Coast Guard suspects that they will receive a large number of VRP’s and as a result they may not be able to review all of them before the 8 August 2005 deadline. To avoid disruption to vessel operations, the US Coast Guard may issue an interim letter to owners or operators after receiving a VRP pending its review and approval. However, since it may still take up to one month for the US Coast Guard to issue an interim letter Members who trade to the United States are advised to prepare and submit a VRP for each of their non-tank vessels as soon as possible.
For further information please contact the Club’s Loss Prevention Department in London.