COMMONS AMENDMENTS (Hansard, 23 July 1971)

§ LORD DRUMALBYN

My Lords, I beg to move that this House doth agree with the Commons in their Amendment No. 1. The Amendment adds to the paragraph exempting a servant or agent of the owner from liability for oil pollution a salver, acting with the agreement of the owner. If proceedings were possible against the owner's servants or agents, behind whom an owner would normally have to stand, a way would be open indirectly to further proceedings against an owner. A salver who carries out salvage operations with the agreement of the owner is in much the same position as a servant or agent of the owner, but as an independent contractor he might not come within the meaning of the phrase. As the Bill stands—that is, as it left your Lordships' House—salvers run the risk of unlimited liability 1305 for oil pollution. As noble Lords will recall, the maximum figures for ship-owners' liability for oil pollution contained in the 1969 Civil Liability Convention and reflected in the Bill, represent the maximum available insurance cover.

We have been told that salvers are consequently finding it impossible to obtain cover in the insurance market for their potential oil pollution liability when assisting tankers. If an oil spill results, liability could attach both to the tanker and to the salver. The insurance market is not prepared to put itself at double risk and therefore excludes oil pollution liability from the salver's cover. This leads salvers to seek to cover themselves by means of a full indemnity from the tanker owner which, in effect, means from the tanker's insurers. But this is likely to be refused, since the insurers are not prepared to increase their cover for oil pollution damage in this way.

The general objective of the Bill, as noble Lords are well aware, is to ensure that adequate compensation is available to those who suffer from oil pollution. Important as this objective is, however, it is even more important, where possible, to prevent the damage from being caused in the first place. One major way in which this can be achieved is by prompt action to salvage a damaged tanker and so to reduce the escape of oil to a minimum. Marine salvage is a service provided voluntarily by those who are equipped to do so, on the basis that they can expect high rewards if they are successful, but will get nothing if they fail. The situation I have outlined could mean that at best valuable time could be lost in 'starting salvage operations because of arguments about liability and, at worst, that salvage of a damaged tanker would not be undertaken at all. Consequently, the oil pollution damage might be much greater than it would have been, if salvage operations had been undertaken.

This Amendment to Clause 3 gives a salver protection if, but only if, he is carrying out salvage operations with the agreement of the owner, since it is only in such circumstances that he can be regarded as in an analogous position to the owner's servant or agent. We think that this Amendment is not unreasonable 1306 in itself and will help to remove a serious impediment in the way of salvers taking on a job. I beg to move.