American Club Circular No. 29/13 1 OCTOBER 22, 2013 CIRCULAR NO. 29/13 TO MEMBERS OF THE ASSOCIATION Dear Member: US VESSEL RESPONSE PLANS - SALVAGE AND MARINE FIREFIGHTING REQUIREMENTS FINAL RULE - SEPTEMBER 30, 2013 - DEADLINE FOR IMPLEMENTATION - JANUARY 30, 2014 This Circular applies to owners of tank and non-tank vessels calling at US ports. Agreements with salvors and oil spill response organizations (OSROs) Members are referred to Circular No 28/13 in which Members were advised that non-tank vessel owners are required to submit vessel response plans (VRPs) to the Coast Guard by January 30, 2014. For the purposes of these plans, non-tank owners are required to pre-contract with qualified individuals (QIs), oil spill response organizations (OSROs), dispersant service providers and salvors. This Circular addresses the requirements for contracts with salvors. A separate Circular will be published at the beginning of next month addressing the requirements to pre-contract with OSROs. The publication of the US non-tank final rule has prompted a review of the arrangements most clubs have with the major OSROs which are also the main dispersant service providers. For the time being, Members are advised that they should not enter into any arrangements with these OSROs on the assumption that the current arrangements with the clubs will continue. Non-tank vessels - salvage funding agreements Non-tank vessel owners with a fuel and cargo capacity of 2,500 barrels or greater to carry oil (as defined) are required to enter into funding agreements with salvors and marine fire-fighting resources. The requirements for this category of vessels are almost identical to those for tank vessels. Members are therefore referred to Circulars 15/09 of May 28, 2009, 21/10 of August 23, 2010 and 08/11 of February 22, 2011 relating to tank vessels for full details of the requirements. The funding agreements of five salvors have been reviewed and found to conform with the International Group (IG) salvage guidelines on vessel response plans. These agreements with footers for identification are listed below. For ease of reference the IG salvage guidelines are attached as Annex 1.  Donjon-Smit – (Tanker and Non-Tank) Version A - October 4, 2013  Marine Response Alliance LLC – Version 16 October 2013  Resolve Salvage & Fire (Americas) Inc – Version 3 – 1 October 2013  Svitzer – USA Companies Version October 1, 2013  Svitzer – INTL Companies Version October 1, 2013  T&T Salvage LLC – USA Owner (Tanker and Nontank) Version – 4 October 2013  T&T Salvage LLC - Non-US Owner (Tanker and Nontank) Version – 4 October 2013 Non-tank vessel owners with a fuel and cargo capacity of less than 2,500 barrels but greater than or equal to 250 barrels are only required to identify resource providers in their VRPs and have the American Club Circular No. 29/13 2 agreement of the salvor to list them in their plans rather than enter into a full funding agreement. The following such agreements have been reviewed and found to conform with the International Group (IG) salvage guidelines on vessel response plans.  Donjon-Smit – Consent Agreement for Vessel Response Plans – October 4, 2013  Marine Response Alliance LLC – MPA OPA 90 & CA Certificate of Coverage (Version 2013)  Resolve Salvage & Fire (Americas) Inc – RMG OPA 90 Certificate of Coverage – 01 October 2013  Svitzer Written Consent – Version Oct 2013  T&T Salvage LLC - OPA 90 Written Consent – 4 October 2013 Members shoul