VESSEL DAMAGE SEVERITY OF TANKER ACCIDENTS

Are there effective policies. other than vassal design (which is addre ssed by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990) for reducing the vessel damage severity (and the subsequent oil spillage) of tanker accidents? This p aper addresses this question by investigating determinants of accident severity. The results suggest that effective policies. other than ves sel design, may not exist for tanker collision accidents, but do exist for accidents which involve grounding and/or material/equipment failu re. For grounding accidents. these policies are to: increase the regul ation and/or regulation enforcement of foreign flag tankers. and incre ase the regulation enforcement of tankers when vessel repair prices en d oil prices are relatively low. For material/equipment failure accide nts. these policies are to: increase the regulation and/or regulation enforcement of older tankers. and require greater use of licensed mann ed operators.