Merchant Shipping (Pollution) Bill [Lords]

I will certainly deal with those points, if not in this speech, then after seeking the leave of the House to make the winding-up speech. As well as the issue of oil pollution around our coast—the Bill specifically deals with oil pollution—we have the opportunity to provide for an important measure to reduce air pollution from ships, which could not be missed. Again, international text for that exists, so we believe that it is possible to achieve agreement on a consensual way forward. Merchant shipping legislation already contains provision to implement, by secondary legislation, most international maritime instruments. We already have powers to implement basic compensation for oil pollution, and we have secondary legislation in hand to implement compensation arrangements for chemical pollution and for pollution from ships’ fuel—the so-called Bunkers convention. The narrow purpose of the Bill is to close remaining gaps in our primary powers and to make adequate provision for future changes in the relevant international instruments. We therefore have before us a short, focused Bill whose purpose is to allow the UK to implement two important international treaties, one greatly to improve compensation for oil pollution and the other to introduce measures to reduce air pollution from ships. On compensation for oil pollution, ours is an island state with a coastline of over 10,000 miles, so the Government are very conscious of the potential environmental impacts stemming from a major pollution incident. We are surrounded by a number of major shipping routes and the English channel is the world’s second busiest international waterway, after the Malacca straits. Marine oil pollution can have devastating effects. The public are familiar with the dreadful images of polluted coastlines and of oiled seabirds and mammals, but the effects go much further. The economies of coastal communities and their fishing and tourism industries can be shattered following a major oil spill. The costs to local authorities and the Government of responding to an oil spill can be exorbitant. Following the Torrey Canyon incident off Land’s End in 1967, it was evident that the compensation arrangements were inadequate. That led to the development of an international system to ensure that victims of oil pollution damage would be fully and promptly compensated. The resulting international regime was founded on two treaties: a liability convention, which made shipowners strictly liable for pollution damage and required them to maintain insurance, and a fund convention, which provided additional compensation to victims of oil pollution damage when they were unable to obtain full compensation under the liability convention. The additional compensation provided under the fund convention is paid for by oil receivers in state parties to the fund convention. The original instruments have since been superseded, but the international regime remains in place and, to date, 98 states have joined it. Since it was established, the UK has experienced two further major incidents, involving the Braer off the Shetlands in January 1993 and the Sea Empress off Milford Haven in February 1996. The international fund provided compensation of £52 million in respect of the Braer and £37 million in respect of the Sea Empress. The compensation available through the international system was significantly increased in 1996 and the basic regime now provides for an overall limit of £168 million of compensation.