ABSTRACT
This makes it possible to examine the subject on a global basis by reference to two principal liability regimes, one international and the other exclusive to the United States.
The international conventions do not apply in the United States where the domestic liability regime is important for two main reasons: first, the US is by far the world’s largest importer of oil and the number of shipping movements potentially affected by its pollution laws is very large;1 second, liability for oil pollution in the US is extensive and may be viewed as the highwater mark of legal exposure undertaken by shipowners and other potentially responsible parties when they engage in tanker trading worldwide.
