Intertanko

Abstract

In 1967 the Torrey Canyon grounding in the English Channel resulted in serious pollution of the English and French coasts. This case revealed the inadequacy of the then existing compensation arrangement for pollution damage and prompted the United Nation agency, IMO, to adopt the Civil Liability Convention of 1969 (CLC) and the Fund Convention 1971 (FC), to ensure that pollution victims receive adequate compensation. Realizing that it would take some time before the conventions would come into effect, the private shipping industry set up TOVALOP (Tanker Owners Voluntary Agreement concerning Liability for Oil Pollution) as an interim measure in 1968 to reimburse governments for oil pollution clean up costs. Several major oil companies said that they were prepared to reimburse owners for the extra insurance cost, but this compensation was later withdrawn when TOVALOP was firmly established.