The issue of compensation when vessels run aground on South Africa’s coast has generated lively debate - much of it in certain press reports based on erroneous assumptions. Malcolm Hartwell, director of legal firm Norton Rose Fullbright, panned the accuracy of an article published in a local newspaper last month discussing the relevance of new maritime legislation in light of the limited pollution from two bulk carriers which had run aground in SA waters. A spill retrieval for which the cash came out of the state coffers. Hartwell hit out at this as a misapprehension of the new bills currently sitting before parliament - the Merchant Shipping (International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund) Contributions Bill, and the Civil Liability Convention Bill “The running aground of the two bulk carriers is completely irrelevant insofar as this legislation is concerned,” he told FTW. “The bills only deal with compensation for the spillage of persistent carbon oils from tankers as part of their cargo.” However, he pointed out that there is, in addition, an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) Bunker Convention. This would deal with the costs of clean-up of fuel from tankers and fuel from bulk carriers such as the MV Kiani Satu, that sank off Buffels Bay, and the MV Smart, which ran aground while leaving Richards Bay harbour. But despite the convention having being adopted in 2001 and entered into force in 2008, Hartwell complained that: “The department of transport has done nothing about acceding to that convention or enacting it in domestic legislation.” He also slammed the tardiness of the government in getting these two latest bills through. “The reason the bills have suffered an unconscionable delay was allegedly due to a stalemate between the departments of transport and finance. The department of finance insisted on the levies being paid to the central revenue fund and they would then be paid to the fund (International Oil Pollution Compensation Fund) in London. There was however some money-grubbing method to the SA government’s madness. “The method adopted by SA means that the state controls payment of the levies and enjoys the cash flow benefit of holding them for a while before paying them to the fund,” said Hartwell. But, despite the delays up to now, Hartwell told us that the DoT “is optimistic that they will be passed during the current session of Parliament”. The passing of the Bills, according to Hartwell, provided they are accompanied by the Money Bill and the Administration Bill, will result in claimants being entitled to claim from the fund in London. The MLA has also been indulging in a little bit of arm-twisting by writing to the ministers of transport, finance and in the presidency for some time and urging them to pass these bills. “We accordingly welcome the recent developments,” said Hartwell, “and hope that no tanker runs aground before the bills come into law. We also hope that the department accedes to the 2003 Protocol and the Bunker Convention as soon as possible.” CAPTION The MV Smart ran aground in August.
