IOPC Funds’ Director participates in Nordic Association of Marine Insurers’ seminar

On 10 April 2025, IOPC Funds’ Director, Gaute Sivertsen, delivered a presentation during a panel entitled “Dark Fleet: Sanctions Circumvention and Increasing Risks“, organised by the Nordic Association of Marine Insurers (CEFOR) as part of its 2025 annual seminar and dinner in Oslo, Norway. 

Founded in 1911, CEFOR comprises 16 members that provide hull and machinery insurance (blue water and coastal), protection and indemnity (P&I) insurance, cargo insurance, legal defence, war risk insurance, and energy and offshore insurance.   

Following a brief overview of the role and structure of the IOPC Funds, including the types of claims that can be submitted in event of an oil pollution incident, the Director focused on the potential impact of international sanctions on the international liability and compensation regime for oil pollution damage. 

He noted that a growing number of tankers were attempting to circumvent sanctions, leading to increased risks to the environment and Member States, potential financial impacts on contributors to the IOPC Funds, non-compliance with IMO tanker safety standards, and concerns about the emergence of a market for substandard oil transportation.  

Director Sivertsen also reminded his audience of the importance of complying with the 1992 Civil Liability Convention, which imposes an obligation on each State Party to ensure that a ship trading under its flag or entering or leaving a port in its territory has the required insurance or other financial security. 

Concluding, he noted that discussions within the IMO on this issue were ongoing, with the aim of ensuring strict compliance with insurance and other IMO regulations, including tighter enforcement of rules on ship-to-ship (STS) transfers in the Exclusive Economic Zones of Member States. He welcomed these actions by States.