192 



the cost will be passed on to the consumer? In the very worst case, including 

 taxes, marine transportation costs, as stated by the American Institute of Mer- 

 chant Shi]3ping (AIMS) at hearings before the House Subcommittee on Coast 

 Guard and Navig'ation of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee 

 last week, could amount to 20%. A 2% increase in transportation thus translates 

 to an additional 2 mils to the gallon presuming the entire cost increased is passed 

 on to the consumer on a 40 cent cost per gallon of gasoline. 



Statement of Rear Adm. W. M. Benkert, Chief, Coast Guard, Office of 

 Marine Environment anu Systems 



Mr. Chairman. It is a pleasure to be able to appear today before this Sub- 

 committee. I am Rear Admiral W. M. Benkert, Chief of the Coast Guard's Office 

 of Marine Environment and Systems. I am here today upon your invitation to 

 the Commandant of the Coast Guard and will be discussing the 1969 and 1971 

 amendments to the 1954 Convention on the Pollution of the Sea by Oil and the 

 Intervention Convention in the context of the hopefully forthcoming 1973 Con- 

 vention on Marine Pollution from Ships. 



19 54 OIL pollution CONVENTION 



The oil pollution convention of 1954 was a first attempt by international agree- 

 ment to control the growing problem of pollution of the sea by oil. 



As a matter of background, I would like to highlight the more significant 

 provisions of the existing convention. It establishes certain ocean zones within 

 which tankers of 150 gross tons and above are prohibited from discharging oil or 

 an oily mixture as defined in the convention. The prohibited zones are set forth 

 as all sea areas within 50 miles from the nearest land. Additional specified sea 

 areas, insofar as they extend more than 50 miles from the nearest land, also are 

 established as prohibited zones. These sea areas cover certain portions of the 

 Pacific Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, North Sea, and the Baltic Sea. With respect 

 to ships other than tankers, the existing convention provides that the discharge 

 of oil or oily mixture shall be made as far as practicable from land. 



New vessels, over 20,000 tons, built after the convention came into force, are 

 prohibited from discharging oil or oily mixtures anywhere in the oceans except 

 imder special circumstances where it is neither reasonable nor practicable to 

 retain the oil or oily mixture on board, in which case discharge may be accom- 

 plished outside the prohibited zones. I might add that under the existing conven- 

 tion there is no quantitative regulation of such discharges for any vessel in the 

 ocean areas not specified as prohibited zones. 



The discharges prohibited by the convention do not apply when the discharge 

 is made to secure the safety of a ship, to prevent damage to a ship or cargo, or 

 saving life at sea, nor do the prohibitions apply to the escape of oil or oily mix- 

 ture resulting from damage to a ship or unavoidable leakage, nor to the discharge 

 of residue arising from the piirification of fuel oil or lubricating oil provided 

 such discharge is made as far from land as practicable. 



The convention also requires every ship which uses fuel oil and every tanker 

 to carry an oil record book in which must be recorded various operations such as 

 the ballasting of and discharge of ballast from the cargo tanks of tankers ; 

 cleaning of such cargo tanks: settling in slo]! tanks and discbarge of water from 

 tankers ; and other related activities on tankers and ships other than tankers. 



IMPACT of 1969 AND 1971 AMENDMENTS 



With the foregoing comments as background, I will now turn to the impact of 

 the 1969 amendments. At the outset it may be stated that these amendments 

 were based on the premise that in order to achieve significant progress on pre- 

 vention and control of pollution at sea, it was necessary to establish measures 

 with respect to the instantaneous rate of discharge from ships at sea. maxinutm 

 oil content of the discharged mixture, and the total quantity of oil discharged 

 by tankers on a ballast voyage. 



The amendments consist of nine substantive changes to the existing 1954 Con- 

 vention : 



One of the principal changes was to Article III and was ba.sed on the principle 

 of total prohibition of oil discharge subject to certain specified exceptions. This 

 amendment eliminated any free zones at sea where diimjung or discharge of oil 

 is not now regulated. In this connection, I emphasize that under the present 

 convention and under implementing domestic law, other than respect of new 

 vessels, generally there is no regulation of oil discharges outside the prohibited 



