IOPC Funds Amended Guidance for Member States on the definition of ‘ship’ under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention in Marine Insurance P&I Club News 08/01/2026 At the November 2025 Sessions of the IOPC Funds’ Governing Bodies, the Executive Committee of the IOPC Funds approved a new footnote for inclusion in the IOPC Funds’ publication ‘Guidance for Member States – Consideration of the definition of ‘ship’ under the 1992 Civil Liability Convention’. The footnote sets out guidance on a standard procedure for determining when a ship which can serve as a qualifying ship under both the 1992 CLC and the 2001 Bunkers Convention, ceases to be a “ship” under the 1992 CLC. This circular provides members with an overview of the reason for the change and guidance for tankers that switch between MARPOL Annex I [1] and MARPOL Annex II cargoes. Legal framework Overview of compensation regime for oil pollution damage from tankers carrying persistent oil The 1992 CLC, 1992 Fund Convention and 2003 Supplementary Fund Protocol establish a liability regime for pollution damage caused by spills of persistent oil from tankers, which occur in the territory or exclusive economic zone of a State Party to the respective Convention. The 1992 CLC governs liability for oil pollution damage under which the registered owner is held strictly liable for pollution damage caused by the escape or discharge of persistent oil from the ship. In return for this strict liability, the registered owner is able to limit its liability based on the size of the ship up to a maximum of 89,770,000 Special Drawing Rights (SDR). Above this limit, the 1992 Fund Convention establishes a regime for compensating victims where the 1992 CLC is either not available or inadequate up to a maximum of 203 million SDR. The Supplementary Fund provides additional compensation beyond the amount available under the 1992 Fund, giving a total amount of compensation for each incident of 750 million SDR. Both these layers are financed by levies on the receivers of oil in contracting states. When is a tanker a “ship” under the 1992 CLC Article 1(1) of the 1992 CLC defines a “ship” as: “any sea-going vessel and seaborne craft of any type whatsoever constructed or adapted for the carriage of oil in bulk as cargo, provided that a ship capable of carrying oil and other cargoes shall be regarded as a ship only when it is actually carrying oil in bulk as cargo and during any voyage following such carriage unless it is proved that it has no residues of such carriage of oil in bulk aboard.” Article 1(5) of the 1992 CLC defines “oil” as: “any persistent hydrocarbon mineral oil such as crude oil, fuel oil, heavy diesel oil and lubricating oil, whether carried on board a ship as cargo or in the bunkers of such a ship.” This means that the 1992 CLC covers not only spills of cargo, but also bunker oil from laden tankers. In addition, it can cover spills of bunker oil from an unladen tanker where on the previous voyage the tanker had been carrying oil in bulk as cargo and it cannot be proven that there are no residues of the carriage of that oil remaining on board. It is this later scenario that arose in the case of the Bow Jubail. The Bow Jubail The incident On 23 June 2018, the oil and chemical tanker, Bow Jubail, was in ballast when it made contact with a jetty in the Port of Rotterdam spilling approximately 217 tonnes of bunker oil. Although the vessel was unladen at the time, during the previous voyage from Housto