South Africa’s economy,
tourism and local businesses
would take a massive beating
if we were to suffer a major oil
disaster along any of our coastlines,
and South Africa’s already
overburdened tax payers would end
up footing the bill for salvage and
clean-up costs.
This is according to Andrew
Aubin of Aon South Africa. His
warnings follow a shocking report
aired on TV programme Carte
Blanche recently regarding the state
of the country’s readiness in the
event of a major oil disaster in our
seas.
“Despite the fact that three
of the biggest oil spill disasters
in maritime history have taken
place off South Africa’s coastline,
authorities are failing to monitor
the changing shipping environment
and modify behaviour accordingly.
They seem to have chosen a
laissez faire approach to insurance
covers, crisis management and
response capacity when it comes
to monitoring ships, particularly oil
tankers in South African waters,”
warns Aubin.
The Carte Blanche exposé
revealed that at most South Africa
would be able to recover R180m
from traditional insurance markets
in the event of a disastrous oil
spill. The truth is that because
South Africa has not updated its
legislation for the past 12 years,
local oil companies aren’t paying
the 3c on every ton of the oil they
import to the International Fund, the
insurance fund to which the world’s
major oil companies contribute.
And, like all insurance premiums,
if we don’t pay our levies we can’t
claim.
“The reality is that South Africa
lies on one of the world’s busiest
shipping routes. Rough seas, an
ageing world tanker fleet, human
error and deliberate discharge
make oil pollution a real threat
around our coasts. We simply
cannot sit back and naively think
that the ships using our waters are
properly insured, if at all, or are
in a reasonable state of repair and
maintenance. The truth is that
many of these ships come from very
questionable origins with owners
who have little regard for the law or
the implications for anyone else of
their wrong-doing,” he says.
“If there was a cataclysmic
oil spill right now we would be
seriously compromised as we could
not claim from the International
Fund since our oil companies are
not contributing to it. Our fragile
economy would most likely never
recover from such a disaster, and
our coastal environment as a major
source of tourism income would be
left in tatters,” warns Aubin.
INSERT
‘Authorities are
failing to monitor the
changing shipping
environment and
modify behaviour
accordingly.’
CAPTION
Andrew Aubin ... ‘South Africa has not
updated its legislation for the past 12
years.’
