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Oil tanker owners feel there is a lack of rules for shore-based officials who guide vessels into port, according to an International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko) official.

Intertanko's communications and marketing manager Sybil Gosselin said a vessel's captain was responsible for any accident which occurred regardless of who was at fault.

'Studies showed that 80 per cent of tanker accidents happened close to shore,' Ms Gosselin said.

'Other studies showed that 80 per cent of accidents were caused by human error.' She likened the situation to an aircraft arriving at Kai Tak airport from Singapore, another from London and a third from Manila without being guided in by the air traffic controller.

'That's exactly what is happening in the port,' she said.

Ms Gosselin is organising a series of Intertanko meetings in Hong Kong this week, including its annual general meeting on Thursday.

She said when a vessel picked up a pilot, it slowed down. If the pilot was picked up at the wrong moment, then an accident could easily happen before the pilot could reach the bridge.

 'The waterways management has to achieve a much closer rapport between the shore and the ships to prevent such accidents,' Ms Gosselin said.

Last year, oil tankers worldwide carried 1.9 billion tonnes of oil to various destinations and 99.99 per cent reached their destinations safely, she said.

All it needed was one small spill to upset the world, she said.

These accidents did not happen because vessels were registered with flag-of-convenience registries or had poorly trained crews, but mostly through other factors.

Ms Gosselin said oil tanker owners were subsidising the cost of transport because the rates were too low.

'There will be a limit. Owners will not bear the cost of building brand new ships if they don't get paid. The equation does not add up,' she said.

Ms Gosselin said Intertanko was holding continuing talks with 'green' groups to explain to them what tanker owners were doing, the mechanics of the tanker industry and the efforts made to avoid accidents.

She said it was necessary to pick out bad tanker operators, as it needed only one bad apple to spoil the name of the whole industry.

Ms Gosselin said many types of vessel could discharge their used oil into the sea undetected. Whenever that happened, fingers were always pointed at oil tankers.

Ships did this to escape paying huge fees for disposing of used oil. In Houston it cost US$50 to get rid of 4.5 litres of used oil.

Intertanko will hold on Wednesday two training sessions for oil tanker executives on how to respond to the media in case of an accident or emergency.



Tanker body warns on lack of controls in ports