Joseph Bonney, Senior Editor | Aug 09, 2012 10:20AM EDT
The Maritime Administration is seeking a contractor to study the safety, economic and environmental impact of double hulls required on tankers built since enactment of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.
Marad’s solicitation notice, posted Monday, requires interested contractors to provide initial responses this week.
The solicitation notice said double hulls reduce the threat of oil pollution from grounding, but require extra steel and “significantly increase the amount of energy needed to propel a vessel and increase the amount of air pollution.”
OPA-90, enacted following the Exxon Valdez oil spill, required the use of double-hull tankers in U.S. waters. The requirement was soon adopted by the International Maritime Organization and became a worldwide regulation.
Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JosephBonney.
