EUROPEAN UNION RESTRICTS USE OF SINGLE-HULL TANKERS

EUROPEAN UNION RESTRICTS USE OF SINGLE-HULL TANKERS    Governments of the European Union have decided to restrict access to single-hull tankers in European waters, following the recent oil spill of the single-hull tanker “Prestige” off the Spanish coast, but without agreeing on a clear implementation deadline.
   At a meeting of the European transport council of ministers, the governments said that “heavy grades of oil” — such as heavy fuel, tar, bitumen and heavy crude oils — will only be carried by double-hull tankers. Double-hull tankers are regarded as safer than single-hull ships.
   Individual European countries will implement the agreement at the national level. The European council of transport did not agree on a joint deadline to phase out single-hull tankers for the transport of heavy grades of oil.
   The council also asked the European Commission “as a matter of urgency” to present a proposal for an accelerated phasing out of single-hull tankers. “The proposal must be approved no larter than by July 1, 2003,” the council of European ministers said in a statement.
   Single-hull tankers are already illegal in the United States.
   The council of ministers asked national governments of the EU to enter into agreements with their respective industries “to ensure quality shipping and eliminate older single hulled vessels transporting the heavy grades of oil.”
   The council also invited national governments to adopt measures to control the traffic of vessels carrying dangerous and polluting goods within 200 miles of their coastlines.
   The environmental association Greenpeace criticized the decisions reached by EU governments on tanker shipping.
   “While the EU agreed to ban single hulled vessels transporting heavy fuel from its ports, it is up to each EU member state to decide when the ban takes effects,” Greenpace said. The association called for an outright, immediate ban of single-hull tankers.