An Impact Analysis of Marpol Annex 1, Legislative Developments on Oil Spills From Tankers

Abstract

Gradual growing trend of marine transportation of oil inevitably results in accidental oil spills. The safety and preventive measures introduced internationally and nationally resulted in the reduction in the number of spills and amount of accidental releases to the sea in the past decades. However, recent incidents show that marine oil spills are unpredictable events that may cause significant damage to the environment, florafauna and coastal communities. The statistics of ITOPFInternational Tanker Owners Pollution Federation and UNCTDUnited Nations Conference on Trade and Development reports shows the percentage of tanker incidents which has occurred per year. Above databases are used for various studies in Shipping and found consistent and cross checked and continually updated. This paper analyzes the implementation of maritime environmental legislative Marpol regulation Annex 1 and impact on oil spills by tankers. The paper will focus on Marine oil spills worldwide over a 50 year period from 1970 to 2020 and discuss the relationship between Marpol Annex 1 versus