Two updated summary guides to US pollution risks are now available in the Environmental Encylopaedia section of our website.

The two documents are titled "US Pollution Risks: COFR and VRP Requirements - Federal & State Summaries" and "US Pollution Risks: Liability and Compensation - Federal & State Law Summaries" .

Both these guides have been updated to reflect the current situation under Federal and state law in respect of liability and limitation, as well as the COFR and VRP requirements. The limitation figure is computed differently depending on the size and construction of the ship involved in a pollution incident. For example, smaller tankers of double hull construction i.e. those under 3,000 gross tankers are liable for the greater of either $4million or $1,900 per gross ton. Single hull but double sided tankers of more than 3,000 gross tons are liable for the greater of $22 million or $3,000 per gross ton.

These summaries also advise on the identification of responsible parties as well as the nature of liability, statutory defences and the relevant tests for breaking the right to limitation under state and Federal laws.

We would recommend that Members familiarize themselves with these summaries if they are trading to the United States. Both summaries are published in PDF format for easy downloading and printing.

The Environmental Encylopaedia is a specialist database which manages the Club's knowledge of purely environmental issues in a similar format to the main Miller Encyclopaedia.

Any Member can access these areas. The security protects information that has been collated using Club resources i.e. the resources contributed by our membership. Members can register easily by clicking on the Members' Area section of the home page to the right of this article. Click on the legend "P&I Online Services Register".

If you encounter difficulty registering for these services please don't hesitate to contact either Jenny Whitehead or Nick Whitear who are responsible for the daily management of our website.