AUGUST 23, 2010 CIRCULAR NO. 21/10 TO MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION (This circular is addressed to owners of tank vessels carrying oil calling at US ports) Dear Member: US VESSEL RESPONSE PLANS – SALVAGE AND MARINE FIREFIGHTING REQUIREMENTS: FINAL RULE – DECEMBER 31, 2008: DEADLINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION – FEBRUARY 22, 2011: SALVAGE AGREEMENTS Members are referred to Circular No. 15/09 of May 28, 2009 in which attention was drawn to the US Coast Guard (USCG) Final Rule amending the Vessel Response Plan (VRP) Salvage and Marine firefighting requirements for tank vessels carrying oil (33 CFR part 155). This Final Rule became effective on January 30, 2009. It states that owners of tank vessels calling at US ports must enter into agreements with salvage and marine firefighting services and list these in the VRPs for such vessels. Owners and operators who are required to have a VRP now have until February 22, 2011 to prepare and submit revised plans that comply with these new salvage and marine firefighting requirements. Such amended plans can be filed from September 1, 2010. It is emphasised that unlike the position with regard to Oil Spill Response Organisations which are classified by the USCG, it is the responsibility of the shipowner or operator to ensure that the salvor and firefighter have capability measured against 15 criteria, and to certify to this effect. The criteria are listed in Annex 1. Owners and salvors have raised a number of questions concerning the Final Rule. The USCG has published FAQs and these are updated from time to time. Please use the following link and instructions to access the FAQs: www.uscg.mil/vrp - select ‘ General’ under the heading Frequently Asked Questions - select **Salvage and Marine Firefighting Frequently Asked Questions** NEW - select PDF document: SMFF FAQ (N.B. the latest version as at August 18 is July 9, 2010). Final Rule The Final Rule establishes new response times, requirements for each of the required salvage and marine firefighting services, establishes criteria for vetting salvage and marine firefighting service resource providers, and ensures that salvors and marine firefighters are adequate to provide the equipment and manpower needed for responding to incidents up to and including worst case scenarios. The owner must file for a temporary waiver if the response times cannot be met. Page 1 of 12 Contract and Funding Agreement The agreement must be by contract (or other approved means). The contract should expressly provide that the resource provider (salvor) is capable of, and intends to commit to, meeting the plan requirements. As part of the contract the owners must enter into a written funding agreement. The purpose of a funding agreement is to ensure that salvage and marine firefighting responses are not delayed due to funding negotiations at the time of an incident. The funding agreement must include a statement of how long the agreement remains in effect, and must be provided to the USCG for VRP approval. The USCG has indicated that it will accept Lloyd’s Open Form (LOF) with certain conditions (see Annex 2). In effect this would seem to amount to LOF plus SCOPIC. Although not primarily a matter relating to P&I cover, the International Group (IG) has drawn up a set of guidelines for evaluating these agreements and these are attached as Annex 3. These relate to such matters as indemnities, control, insurance etc. Against the background of these guidelines the VRP working group of the IG ha