Aspects of Modern Day Spill Response?

Richard H. Johnson
Technical Director
The International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Limited (ITOPF)
1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1HQ, United Kingdom

Over the last half century, particularly since the critical TORREY CANYON
incident of 1967, the most noteworthy change has been the dramatic decline in thenumber of major tanker spills from an annual average of 24.5 in the 1970’s to 3.3 inthe 2000’s, despite the growing size of the world fleet. This is due, in no small
measure, to the endeavours of maritime states through the IMO as well as both theshipping and oil industries, whose cooperation have made such incidents rare rather
than a common twice monthly event. Development and implementation ofinternational conventions that set the standards for ship design and operations, haveworked to mitigate the occurrence of incidents, where as conventions offering
guidance on preparing for incidents and promoting government-industry cooperation,
as well as ensuring the availability of compensation to victims of oils spills haveacted to minimise the consequences should an incident occur, all of which haveseen widespread adoption globally.
Significant advances in the understanding of the fate and behaviour of oil spills
have aided the development of specialised response equipment and techniques that1are continuously improving through coordination of R&D activities with first hand
response experience on site.
An increased perceived understanding of both the environmental and economic
impact of an oil spill or spill of cargo other than oil has increased both the public’sintolerance of such events regardless of size and the media interest in them.
Consequently response services, such as those provided by ITOPF, are beingsought for increasingly smaller yet more costly and complex spills typically from nontankers. Following an incident greater consideration is more frequently now given topost spill environmental monitoring and damage assessment. There is increased
focus on the carriage of hazardous and noxious substances (HNS) as awareness ofthe potential impact of such spills is also rising globally.
The quantity and quality of spill response training and education programs
undertaken, in addition to publications such as response manuals, guidelines andscientific papers, have helped to better educate all manner of interested individuals,including government officials of all levels, industry, the scientific community andgeneral public. Contingency planning is now a well known phrase associated withspill response, and it is now common for such plans to be developed for ships,
installations, ports, countries and regions. Furthermore these plans are becoming
much more comprehensive and are being adapted to reflect the changing risk
profiles associated with changing trade patterns, and may also include a much wider
range of issues such as wildlife response. All of this has led spill response toprogress from a situation of localised chaos, to a community of more experienced
and better informed individuals on hand to provide assistance anywhere in the world,
supported by a wealth of literature and scientific research.

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Obviously there is more progress to be made. Levels of preparedness are by nomeans uniform and remain less than ideal in many parts of the world. Many
governments pass arguably too much responsibility to the private sector during an
incident, and in doing so can often deplete their own capacity to effectively andproficiently address the interests of the people they represent when need arises. The
increasing desire for continual news feed and updates on spill events and their
response, is a challenge responders and authorities are trying to address without
deterring from their primary role.
Despite the R&D work undertaken and the knowledge gained in the last 50 years,
in some areas, techniques such as the use of dispersants in particular continue to be
shrouded in suspicion and uncertainty by many. Therefore, more can be done topromote and make accessible to all who need it, the knowledge gained and lessons
learned.
The increasing size of vessels and the growing presence of ships in remotelocations or in extreme environments present new challenges. Therefore further
progress is necessary in adapting and developing the knowledge and skills acquired
over the last 50 years to address both existing weaknesses and developing issues,in order to continue this declining trend and minimise the risk of major tanker spills inthe future.

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