Five years after the inland and coastal tanker industry’s Jan. 1, 2015, deadline for complying with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, a similar deadline will arrive for commercial fishing vessels.
OPA ’90 was, of course, the response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, and its requirement to retire single-hull barges and go to double hulls came with a 25-year phase-in period. But the benefits were so obvious in terms of safety and liability that the industry speeded conversion on its own.
It’s not been as easy for the commercial fishing industry. Constrained, even marginalized by tightened quotas and revenue losses, some fishermen resisted Coast Guard attempts to get more mandatory safety regulations. That safety drive slowly picked up steam after the winter of 1998-1999, when 10 East Coast fishermen died in sinkings.
Finally with the 2010 Coast Guard Reauthorization Act, Congress required fishing vessels more than 50' built after June 30, 2013, to meet classification society standards. Beginning Jan. 1, 2020, fishing boats that are over 25 years old must conform to an “alternative compliance plan” to certify their construction. It’s similar to the grace period granted for older tankers and barges under OPA ‘90.
The Coast Guard is to prescribe those ACP rules in 2017, giving owners three years to comply, John Cullather noted on his U.S. Maritime Safety Network blog this week.
“2020 may sound like it is a long way off – but it is not,” Cullather warned. “It is very important that the fishing industry, from all areas of the United States and participating in the various fisheries, advise the Coast Guard now on what construction standards they think would be appropriate to make this industry safer.”
Can the fishing industry follow the tanker and barge fleet’s model? By 2005, the commercial marine industry was already well on its way to full double-hull conversion, with estimates that nearly 80% of the fleet was already in compliance.
“I have no doubt most of the industry is going to meet its OPA ’90 requirements by 2010 or 2011,” Doug Scheffler, manager of research and data analysis at the American Waterways Operators told WorkBoat back in 2005. “That’s what the customers are demanding.”
Scheffler’s observations were on target. At the end of 2014 AWO announced that the transition was complete – and with it a huge turnaround in the industry’s safety and liability track record.
“The phaseout of single-hulled vessels is a milestone made possible by thoughtful bipartisan policymaking that enabled vessel owners to plan for and make multibillion dollar investments in state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly tank barges and tankers to carry the nation’s vital energy cargoes,” said Thomas A. Allegretti, president and CEO of AWO. “The transition to an all-double-hull fleet, combined with a comprehensive federal regulatory regime for oil spill prevention, response and liability and the adoption by vessel owners of safety management systems, vendor vetting programs and other safety measures, has produced dramatic, positive results for the American public. Oil spills from tank barges have plummeted by 99.6 percent since enactment of OPA 90.
“This outstanding safety record is all the more relevant today given the nation’s energy renaissance and the vastly increased need for marine transportation of crude oil and petroleum products.”
Of course, industry consolidation and other factors helped the tug and barge industry. With the turmoil facing fishing fleets, it’s not at all certain who will make it to the other side.
