Luxembourg, 28/06/2001 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, in Luxembourg, the Transport Council adopted its common position on the regulation that transposes into Community law the International Maritime Organisation agreement on elimination of single hull oil tankers. This international agreement reached in April under European pressure, provides a timetable for elimination of such vessels between 2003 and 2021, leaving the EU the possibility of anticipating the agreement from 2015. The regulation, that will take effect on 1 September 2002, will make it compulsory for Member States to eliminate single hull oil tankers flying European flags and ban access to European ports for vessels that do not comply with the new IMO standards.
The timetable for elimination combines several factors: the age of vessels, their tonnage, and the presence of separate ballast. To simplify, it stipulates: 1) the elimination, in 2007, of single hull oil tankers carrying crude oil with over 20,000 gross tonnage, which are not equipped with separate ballast. These oil tankers cannot, moreover, navigate after 2005 if they have not been inspected; 2) the elimination from 2015 of single hull oil tankers of over 20,000 tonnes equipped with separate ballast. These vessels should also pass tests in order to be able to navigate after 2005; 3) the elimination in 2015 of single hull oil tankers carrying crude oil for a tonnage of between 5,000 and 20,000 tonnes, and vessels carrying oil products weighing 5,000 to 30,000 tonnes.
The IMO agreement has in fact speeded up the timetable fixed in 1973 and 1978 by the Marpol Convention, which provided for the elimination of single hull tankers in 2007 for the first category and in 2026 for the second. The elimination of the third category of single hull tankers was not foreseen in the Marpol Convention. The United States has already adopted internal legislation bringing the date forward to 2015.
European Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio welcomed this decision which will make it possible to protect European coasts from the risk of pollution. "The EU is not willing to have protection that is inferior to that for American coasts. We are therefore very pleased this result has been reached at international level", she said the day before the Council.