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Toby Stone
Head of Counter Pollution
Bay 1/9
Spring Place
105 Commercial Road
Southampton
SO15 1EG

Tel: +44 (0)2380 329525
Fax: +44 (0)2380 329485
E-mail: toby.stone@mcga.gov.uk

Our ref: MPCU 035/003/0032

08/02/2010

Dear Sir/Madam

Consultation on draft Merchant Shipping (Ship-to-Ship Transfer) Regulations 2010

I am writing to invite your comments on the attached draft Regulations to control ship-to-ship transfers in UK waters of oil carried as cargo.

This is the second consultation on these draft Regulations. The first consultation ran for 12 weeks, from 15 May 2008 until 7 August 2008. The responses to the first consultation contained a number of suggestions for improving the draft legislation and we have devoted time to analysing the responses and to making appropriate changes to the draft Regulations which take account of the responses received.

Over the same period, we have also participated actively in work in the International Maritime Organization to develop international legislation which will complement the UK legislation and which, unlike the UK’s own Regulations, will apply not only in a state’s territorial sea but also in its exclusive economic zone. The international legislation takes the form of an amendment to the MARPOL Convention, and the relevant provisions will come into force internationally on 1 January 2011 and will apply to ship-to-ship transfer operations carried out on or after 1 April 2012. In making changes to the UK’s draft Regulations, we have had regard to the content of the new MARPOL provisions.

Consequently, we are now seeking your comments on the changes which have been made to the Regulations since we consulted on them in 2008.

Summary of changes

The most important change, which affects every part of the Regulations, is that the scope of the legislation has been refined. Whereas the draft Regulations on which we consulted in 2008 applied to transfers of any hazardous substance, the new draft of the Regulations applies exclusively to cargo transfers or bunkering operations consisting wholly or mainly of oil.

Another important change, which also runs all the way through the Regulations (including the two Schedules), is terminological. The draft Regulations on which we consulted in 2008 referred to a “programme of transfers” and to an “environmental consent”. In the new draft Regulations, these terms are not used. Instead, the new draft Regulations envisage a more conventional arrangement, whereby a harbour authority applies to the Secretary of State for an “oil transfer licence”, and – once the licence has been granted – “cargo transfers” which are within the scope of the oil transfer licence may be authorised by the harbour authority.

On a more detailed level:

  • The Regulations on which we consulted in 2008 inadvertently caught the consolidation and lightening operations which take place in many harbour authority waters and which are distinct from the ship-to-ship transfers which the Regulations were intended to regulate. Accordingly, this has been changed so that, in the new Regulations, consolidation and lightening operations may take place in a harbour authority irrespective of whether it has an oil transfer licence.
  • Transfers between a ship and an offshore installation were outside the scope of the Regulations on which we consulted in 2008, and so were transfers involving any sort of ship on government non-commercial service. To this, we have added – as a further exclusion from the scope, in the same spirit – transfers carried out by or on behalf of a general lighthouse authority.
  • As a consequential amendment to the deletion of all references to a “programme of transfers”, the transitional arrangements provision has been amended.

Additionally, there are also some minor drafting changes.

How to respond

You are invited to comment on the draft Regulations and associated documentation enclosed, namely:

Because this is a second consultation on Regulations which have already been the subject of a full consultation, and we are asking recipients to focus on the amendments which have been made in the intervening period, this consultation period runs for six weeks from the date of this letter (08/02/2010). Please ensure that your response reaches the Maritime and Coastguard Agency on or before the closing date of 22/03/2010. Written comments should be sent to:

Counter Pollution & Salvage
Maritime and Coastguard Agency
Spring Place
105 Commercial Road
Southampton
Hampshire SO15 1EG;

Alternatively, if you prefer to forward your comments by e-mail, send them to:

csst@mcga.gov.uk

After the consultation period has ended time will be required for the analysis and presentation of the results. The consultation comments and MCA responses will then be published on the MCA website, in the ‘Closed Consultations’ section:

http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-guidance-regulation/mcga-consultations/mcga-consultations-archive.htm

Freedom of Information Act

Information provided in response to this consultation, including personal information, may be published or disclosed in accordance with the access to information regimes (these are primarily the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA), the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004).

If you want the information that you provide to be treated as confidential, please be aware that, under the FOIA, there is a statutory Code of Practice with which public authorities must comply and which deals, amongst other things, with obligations of confidence. In view of this it would be helpful if you could explain to us why you regard the information you have provided as confidential. If we receive a request for disclosure of the information we will take full account of your explanation, but we cannot give an assurance that confidentiality can be maintained in all circumstances. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department.

The Department will process your personal data in accordance with the DPA and in the majority of circumstances this will mean that your personal data will not be disclosed to third parties.

Consultation Criteria

This consultation has been conducted in accordance with the consultation criteria from the Government Code of Practice.

If you have any comments regarding the conduct of this consultation or feel that it does not comply with the Government Code of Practice please contact the Consultation Co-ordinator at consultation.coordinator@mcga.gov.uk. We are continually trying to improve the way in which we conduct consultations and appreciate your views, so we would also be grateful if you could complete and return the attached feedback questionnaire (Annex D). These should be submitted to the Consultation Co-ordinator and are not affected by the deadline for this consultation.

Yours faithfully,

 

 

 

Toby Stone
Head of Counter Pollution & Salvage
Directorate of Maritime Services