Don’t overlook HNS
Don’t overlook HNS
ACCORDING to London law firm Lawrence Graham, while the shipping industry is busy focusing on new security requirements, another convention is due to come into force with major ramifications for all aspects of shipping.
Writing in the latest issue of Shipping Lawgram, Imogen Rumbold, the firm’s shipping partner, says that, under the Hazardous and Noxious Substances Convention 1996 (HNS 1996) which is likely to come into force in the next two years, charterers and receivers will pay more, ports and terminals will face new liabilities, shipowners will need new insurance and documentation, P&I Clubs will have to set up new guarantees, authorities around the world will have more requirements to police, and, in any accident to almost any ship, claimants for environmental damage will have new legal remedies to pursue. Despite this, awareness of the convention remains low, and there has been little preparation in most areas of shipping.
The wide and multi-sourced definition of HNS means that almost every ship afloat will be affected in some way by the convention (see our HNS article in this issue). It also means that deciding who will pay to the HNS Fund, and how much, is very complex. Ultimately, thousands of importers, receivers and terminals worldwide will be affected, as will most shipowners and all P&I clubs.
Limitation leap
MAY 2004 saw the entry into force of the 1996 Protocol to Amend the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims. As a result, the amount to which shipowners, charterers, operators or their insurers can limit their liability for losses arising out of a maritime accident has changed dramatically. For example, the property limitation fund for a ship of 20,000 grt has increased from $5.1million to $12.4 million, while its personal injury/loss of life fund has leapt from $10.9million to $24.7million. However, the changes only apply to those countries that have ratified the new limits – to date, Australia, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Malta, Norway, Russia, Sierra Leone, Tonga and the UK.
According to Ince & Co, the protocol has also dramatically increased the limits under the 1976 Convention in respect of passenger claims from 46,666 SDRs to 175,000 SDRs, or about $258,825, per passenger. Limits for passenger vessel claims will now be calculated by multiplying 175,000 SDRs by the number of passengers that the vessel is authorised to carry. For example, the limit for the new Queen Mary II, which is authorised to carry 2,620 passengers, will now be in the region $675,000,000. Not knowing your limitations could prove costly.
Sewage management
THE revised MARPOL Annex IV containing regulations for the prevention of pollution by sewage from ships is expected to enter into force on August 1, 2005, following its formal adoption by IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee in April.
Annex IV contains a set of regulations regarding the discharge of sewage into the sea, ships’ equipment and systems for the control of sewage discharge, the provision of facilities at ports and terminals for the reception of sewage, and requirements for survey and certification. It also includes a model International Sewage Pollution Prevention Certificate to be issued by national shipping administrations to ships under their jurisdiction.