25 August 2010 TO ALL MEMBERS Dear Sirs US Vessel Response Plans - Salvage and Marine Firefighting Requirements Final Rule - 31 December 2008 Deadline for implementation - 22 February 2011 Salvage Agreements This Circular applies to owners of tank vessels carrying oil calling at US ports Members are referred to Circular No. 5:390 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 30 January 2009 and 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 22 February 2011 to prepare and submit revised plans that comply with these new salvage and marine firefighting requirements. Such amended plans can be filed from 1 September 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 owner 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 25 August is July 09, 2010) Final Rule The Final Rule establishes new response times, requirements for each of the required salvage and marine firefighting services, 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 can not be met. P.T.O. - 2 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, and insurance. Against the background of these guidelines, the VRP Working Group of the IG has reviewed four salvor agreements, namely, those of: • DonjonSmit – Version 7 June 201