Claims resulting from a bunker spill from a chemical tanker in Rotterdam last year are running in excess of $50m, according to the International Oil Pollution Compensation Funds (IOPC Funds).
The estimate emerged as the IOPC Funds looks set to become involved after a court ruling over the incident involving the 37,499-dwt Bow Jubail (built 1996).
The spill claims are well in excess of initial claims last year of around $34m but fall short of the $90m estimated at one time by the Port of Rotterdam Authority.
The incident is among a number of claims handled under the pool claims system of the International Group of Protection & Indemnity Clubs. The vessel’s P&I cover is with Norway’s Gard.
Hit a jetty
The Bow Jubail, listed as owned by Saudi Arabia’s National Chemical Carriers and managed by Norway’s Odfjell, spilled an estimated 217 tonnes of heavy fuel oil after hitting a jetty last June.
As it was a pure bunker spill, the owner claimed liability limits under the IMO’s International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001, the IPOC Funds said at its annual meeting this month.
But the owner’s claim has been turned down by the Rotterdam District Court, which ruled that the 1992 Civil Liability Convention (CLC 1992), which covers oil cargo spills, should apply because the owner failed to prove the vessel did not have residues of persistent oil cargo onboard at the time.
National Chemical Carriers is now taking its claim to the Dutch court of appeal. The IOPC Funds manages CLC 1992 and would become involved in the compensation payout if the district court ruling is upheld on appeal.
Liability limit
Under CLC 1992, the shipowner’s and its insurer’s liability is limited to €22.8m ($25.7m). After that, payments will be met by the IOPC Funds-run 1992 Fund Convention (1992 Fund) up to the fund’s liability limit.
In a separate incident related to the international oil compensation conventions, the IOPC Funds said there have been 361 claims from the 2017 spill from the 3,205-dwt Agia Zoni II (built 1972) west of Piraeus in Greece.
The claims add up to €92.48m. So far, the 1992 Fund has paid out €10.8m on 219 claims.
The 1992 Fund said it will wait until the official accident report into the cause of the spill is released before it decides what further action to take on the claim.
Following a ruling by the Supreme Court of Spain last December, the IOPC Funds said it had received an order to pay for losses related to the huge 2002 Prestige spill off the coast of Galicia, northwest Spain, up to the limit of its liability.
However, the IOPC Funds said that as the ruling is still the subject of legal proceedings in other jurisdictions, claimants would not be able to receive the money yet, and for that reason the money should be “kept available”.
Controversial ruling
The Spanish ruling is controversial because it breaks the current limitations of liabilities written into the oil pollution compensation conventions and makes insurer London P&I Club liable for “environmental and moral damages” up to the limit of its P&I policy of $1bn.
According to IOPC Funds’ figures, the court awarded €1.44bn in damages, of which €1.36bn is payable to the Spanish state, €67.5m is due to the French state and €14.44m to individual claimants in France and Spain.
