Introduction Oil pollution is a problem faced by owners and charterers on a regular basis, either from the perspective of the polluter or the affected party. One of the most dramatic examples of a recent spill is the Deepwater Horizon disaster earlier this year. From a CLH perspective, third-party oil pollution raises a number of significant issues regarding charterers’ obligations to owners arising from oil pollution generally. Charterers should bear these in mind both when entering into a charterparty and when giving voyage orders. We examine these matters from an English law perspective. If a vessel proceeds into waters which are contaminated with oil, owners’ immediate obligation is to ensure that their vessel does not exacerbate the extent of the damage by spreading the oil into clean waters. The movements of vessels may be restricted or the port to which the vessel has been ordered may be unreachable as a result of the pollution incident. Direct claim against polluter and the Fund or recourse against Charterers? The fouling of the hull constitutes “physical damage to the vessel” and, as such claims for other losses directly resulting from the damage, should be recoverable by owners. The simplest and often most effective method of reclaiming expenses is by pursuing the polluter, who is strictly liable to indemnify affected parties. Often, where a major oil spill has occurred, the cleaning facilities will also be provided by the polluter. In case of claims in the US which are not dealt with swiftly (i.e. within 90 days) by the polluting party, owners may claim against the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Due to the aforementioned indemnity from the polluter, in most cases any claim between the parties to a charterparty will be limited to loss of time issues resulting from a breach of the charterparty by the charterers or owners’ compliance with the charterers’ orders. As we discuss below, there are several other considerations which may affect the accounting posi