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National Maritime Emergency Response Arrangements
Background
Australia, being an island nation, is heavily dependent on shipping to maintain its standing within the world economy. While the safety standards of commercial shipping have steadily improved over the years, ships operating around the Australian coast, and in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), continue to present an inherent, although diminishing, risk of a major maritime pollution incident, which could have a significant impact of Australia’s marine environment.
International experience has demonstrated that even a single major pollution event may result in enormous losses, not only to the maritime environment, but also to coastal communities, and recreational and commercial activities.
While the likelihood of a maritime casualty imposing a major risk to Australia’s coastal interests is small, the potential consequences of such a casualty warrant a high level of on-going cooperation between the Australian Federal and State/Territory governments to ensure that any such incident is addressed rapidly and effectively.
The improving safety record of the maritime industry has reduced the commercial viability of traditional salvage-capable vessels, such that Governments need to take a greater role in ensuring that a minimum level of ocean-going emergency towage capability continues to be available within Australia to assist with shipping casualties or pollution prevention.
On 18 November 2005, as a response to the 2004 House of Representatives Standing Committee on Transport and Regional Services Inquiry, Ship Salvage Inquiry into Maritime Salvage in Australian Waters (the Neville Report), the Australian Transport Council endorsed the establishment of an integrated national approach to the provision of Emergency Response arrangements, involving minimum levels of emergency towage capability in strategic regions around the Australian coastline and a regulatory framework to support a coordinated approach to Emergency Response issues.
Establishment of such an integrated approach is supported by port authorities, shipping interests and other stakeholders. Governments have also recognised the benefit of single national Emergency Response management role to address any shipping casualties that have the potential to produce significant pollution.
Aim
The aim of the National Maritime Emergency Response Arrangement (NMERA) is to protect the marine environment from actual or potential ship-sourced pollution. This is done by enhancing current response arrangements under the National Plan to combat pollution, if the sea by oil and other noxious and hazardous substances (the National Plan) through ensuring the continuing provision of an appropriate level of maritime emergency towage capability around the Australian coastline and the enhancement of the Emergency Response management framework, which includes the appointment of a single national decision maker to coordinate a response to a maritime casualty.
AMSA implementated the national Emergency Towage Program by July 2006 and appointed the national decision-maker who will coordinate and manage Emergency Response action in the event of high risk of significant pollution from a maritime casualty in Commonwealth waters.
Emergency Towage Arrangements
Emergency Towage is taken to be the initial response required to assist a ship that is incapacitated and/or drifting, and is in danger of grounding, sinking or of suffering some other peril of the sea, so as to stabilise the situation and prevent or minimise the extent of consequent pollution of the sea.
Under the NMERA, a number of ETVs are located in strategic Australian coastal regions (Figure 1). These ETVs provide a minimum level of emergency towage capability to deal with a significant, or potential significant, threat to Australia’s marine environment.
Figure 1: ETV strategic regions (boundaries of the regions are not obvious from this diagram)
The emergency towage capability, which consists of a three-tiered approach explained below, was fully operation on 1 July 2006.
Level 1
AMSA has contracted the Brisbane firm Australian Maritime Systems (AMS) Limited, in conjunction with Swire Pacific Offshore, to supply and operate under AMSA’s direction a 24/7 dedicated chartered ETV that will provide emergency towage and first response capability in the particularly sensitive sea area in the Torres Strait and Great Barrier Reef area north of Cairns/Mourilyan.
The vessel, named Pacific Responder, has its home port in Cairns but spends the majority of its time at sea, available for emergency tasking by AMSA should a maritime incident occur. The vessel is also able to respond to other marine incidents, such as pollution of the sea and search and rescue action.
This vessel is engaged in maintenance of the aids to navigation network in its area of operation, and this part of its role will be undertaken for approximately 100 days per year. However, the vessel’s first response capability during a shipping incident, either actual or potential, will take precedence over its aids to navigation maintenance role.
The Federal Minister for Transport and Regional Services, Warren Truss, made the announcement of the successful tenderer on 9 January 2006.
Level 2
The ongoing availability of emergency towage capability for the remaining areas around the Australian coastline is ensured by contracted suitable towage vessels with appropriately trained crews that normally undertake existing port or other operations. These vessels are contracted by AMSA to be available to be called upon in the event of an incident. Operators are paid by AMSA to ensure the availability of appropriate ocean-going vessels and the training of their crews for emergency towage operations.
Level 3
These will be suitable vessels that are in the relevant area at the time of the incident that are used as “vessels of opportunity”. There is expected to be a range of vessels around the coast that would potentially be suitable for emergency towage work, such as offshore tender vessels, and these could be considered to undertake such a role if necessary to supplement, or substitute for, the Level 1 and 2 vessels according to the circumstances of each case.
Maritime Emergency Response Division Commander
AMSA has appointed a Maritime Emergency Response Commander (MERCOM) to act on behalf of the Authority during a shipping casualty. The MERCOM is responsible for the management of responses to shipping incidents in Commonwealth waters, with intervention powers to take such measures as may be necessary to prevent, mitigate or eliminate a risk of significant pollution, including the power to direct a port to release a tug to provide emergency assistance to a vessel at risk or designate a place of refuge for a ship in emergency situations that present a risk of significant pollution.
The MERCOM has appropriate statutory powers to enable effective decision-making consistent with the aim of the NMERA.
The MERCOM will endeavour to consider all relevant legal, practical, environmental, socio-economic and operational issues in deciding whether and how to respond to a maritime casualty, as dictated by the circumstances of each particular casualty.
MERCOM manages AMSA's responsibilities under the National Plan and manages the national emergency towage program.
No significant threat to environment versus significant threat
Incidents requiring the intervention of MERCOM will occur randomly and infrequently, and will be in response to actual or potentially serious emergencies. MERCOM’s intervention, therefore, will be for incidents where there is actual or a threat of significant pollution posed by a ship.
State and Northern Territory Governments retain powers to deal with lesser threats of pollution or other environmental damage within their respective jurisdictions, to the extent that they are available, and may still exercise powers independently. However, MERCOM will be able to step in and exercise his/her intervention powers if, in the MERCOM’s opinion, such action is needed to fully address the threat in question, and MERCOM’s directions prevail over and other direction where inconsistency occurs.
So who pays?
If localised pollution or damage occurs as a consequence of action taken to prevent widespread pollution, the principles of ‘potential polluter pays’ and ‘polluter pays’ will continue to apply.
The NMERA is not intended to alter the responsibilities of the shipowner under current liability regimes in the event of an Australian Government (AMSA) response to an incident.
The costs of individual responses, including liabilities for compensation to relevant stakeholders in the event of pollution or other damage, will be borne by the owner of the ship requiring assistance. This is in accordance with the generally applicable principles, under international conventions and domestic laws, including any right of shipowners to limit their liabilities in various circumstances.
Report by Det Norske Veritas: Risk Assessment of Emergency Towing and Salvage.