Recommendations to enhance preparedness and response for ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port
Waters

PREFACE
Being situated on the coast of the South China Sea, Haiphong is the most
crucial commercial and transportation hub of the North and the Nation, connecting
the Northern provinces with the world market through its seaport, and lies at the
important point of “Two economic corridors – One economic ring”. Nowadays,
thanks to the favorable conditions for port activities, there are over 40 ports
operating along the Cam – Bach Dang River. Over the last several years, along with
Vietnam’s impressive and consistent economic growth, there has been a significant
increase in exporting and importing cargoes throughout Haiphong ports. There is no
denying that this tendency has contributed dramatically to maritime sector
development in Haiphong city, nonetheless, it would pose immense threats to the
environment. Although large spills from vessels or barges have become less
frequent in the last few decades, accidents with medium spills still happen in
Haiphong Port Waters. Such incidents have serious effects on marine ecosystems
and can cost over millions of dollars in oil-spill cleanup. According to United
Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, “Prevention is not only more humane than
cure; it is also much cheaper”. Therefore, good practice in emergency preparedness
and response is able to minimize potential danger to human health and the
environment by ensuring a timely and coordinated response. In this research paper,
some recommendations are offered to enhance preparedness and response for shipsource oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters.
To sum up, I declare that this report is my own unaided work. It has
not been submitted before. If violated, I am solely responsible for and bear the
punishments of the Institution and University.
Student Name and Signature

TRAN THI THU HA

Tran Thi Thu Ha – GMA 02

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ACKNOWLEGEMENT
Foremost, I would like to especially express my sincere gratitude to my
lecturer Mr. Tran Hai Viet for the excellent supervision, continuous support and
collaboration during the entire period of my dissertation. He always spent his time
on answering all of my questions concerning with this research paper. He also
helped with grammatical corrections, documentation and coached me a lot by
giving me feedback and tips on how to handle and approach situations, how to use
English writing, how to build up and arrange ideas for its.
My special thanks also go to Vu Ba Cong – being the Deputy Director at
Department of Natural Resources and Environment, for offering me the internship
opportunities in Department of Natural Resources and Environment.
I also owe many thanks to Mr. Nguyen Van Can (being a manager of Sea & Island
Branch, belonging to the department of natural resource and environment) and Mr.
Mai Duc Long (being a Head of Sea & Island Branch, belonging to the department
of natural resource and environment), who were very helpful and always willing to
give me lots of advice, feedback, materials. The face-to-face conversations and
conversations through email with them are also important learning moment for me
during my internship.
Last but not least, I would like to thank my family for their support during
four and one-half years of my studies. I would especially thank my father, Mr. Tran
Minh Tan, who has inspired me through years and my mother, Ms. Nguyen Thi
Minh Nguyet, who has helped me immensely during my studies.


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TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE .................................................................................................................... i
ACKNOWLEGEMENT............................................................................................. ii
ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................................................... v
LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... vi
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. vii
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 1 ............................................................................................................... 4
LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................... 4
1.1 Oil spill ................................................................................................................. 4
1.1.1 Definition of Oil ................................................................................................ 4
1.1.2 Oil pollution ....................................................................................................... 4
1.1.3 Definition of oil spill and Types of oil spill ...................................................... 4
1.1.4 Ship-source oil spill ........................................................................................... 4
1.1.5 Causes of oil spill accident from vessels ........................................................... 4
1.1.6 Impacts of oil spill ............................................................................................. 5
1.2 Legal basis ............................................................................................................ 7
1.2.1 International conventions .................................................................................. 7
1.2.2 Vietnamese laws, circular, decree, decision, branch standard .......................... 9
CHAPTER II ............................................................................................................ 20
INTRODUCTION OF SEA AND ISLAND BRANCH AND OVERVIEW OIL
SPILL SITUATION AND EVALUATION OF CURRENT STATUS OF OIL

SPILL PREPAREDENESS AND RESPONSE IN HAIPHONG PORT WATERS 20
2.1Introduction of Sea and Island Branch ................................................................ 20
2.1.1 Geographical location & History..................................................................... 20
2.1.2 Position &Function and Duties & Powers of Sea and Island Branch ............. 20
2.1.3 Organizational structure of Sea and Island Branch ......................................... 21
2.1.4 Personnel ......................................................................................................... 22
2.2 Haiphong Port Waters ........................................................................................ 22
2.3 Overview oil spill situation ................................................................................ 22
2.3.1 International oil spill situation ......................................................................... 22
2.3.2 Vietnamese and Haiphong oil spill situation ................................................... 24
2.4 Evaluation of current status of oil spill preparedness and response in Haiphong
Port Waters ............................................................................................................... 26
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2.4.1 Oil Spill Response Organizational Structure in Haiphong .............................. 26
2.4.2 Responsibilities of stakeholders in Oil Spill Response Organizational
Structure.................................................................................................................... 28
2.4.3. Evaluation of current status of oil spill preparation in Haiphong Port Waters31
2.4.4 Evaluation of current status of oil spill response in Haiphong Port Waters ... 40
CHAPTER III ........................................................................................................... 45
RECOMMENDATIONS TO ENHANCE PREPAREDNESS AND RESPONSE
FOR SHIP-SOURCE OIL SPILL IN HAIPHONG PORT WATERS .................... 45
3.1 Recommendations to Department of Natural Resource and Environment – Sea
and Island Branch ..................................................................................................... 45

3.2 Recommendations to Oil Spill Response Companies ........................................ 48
3.3 Recommendations to Manufacturers of oil spill containment booms ................ 49
3.4 Recommendations to Organizations who are obligatory to have OSCP ............ 50
3.5 Recommendations to Local Authorities ............................................................. 51
3.6 Recommendations to Vietnam Maritime Administration – Department of Legal
Affairs……... ............................................................................................................ 52
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 53
Appendices ............................................................................................................... 54
Reference: ................................................................................................................. 75

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ABBREVIATIONS

Oil Spill Contingency Plan

OSCP

Floating Oil

FO

Diesel Oil


DO

Linear Alkyl Benzene

LAB

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LIST OF TABLES
TABLE 1: International conventions ......................................................................... 7
TABLE 2: List of oil spill accidents in Haiphong Port Waters from 2004 to 2014
.................................................................................................................................. 24
TABLE 3: Oil concentration of Vietnamese ports ................................................... 26
TABLE 4: Four main clean-up methods .................................................................. 35
TABLE 5: Oil spill response equipment in Northern Oil Spill Response Center
.................................................................................................................................. 37
TABLE 6: Oil spill response equipment in Northeastern Oil Spill Response
Company................................................................................................................... 38
TABLE 7: Oil spill response equipment in Hoa Anh Joint Stock Company ........... 39
TABLE 8: Oil spill response time of ship-source oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters
.................................................................................................................................. 40
TABLE 9: List of companies being approved oil spill contingency plan since 2013
.................................................................................................................................. 60
TABLE 10: List of international and domestic shipping companies being approved

oil spill contingency plan since 2013 ....................................................................... 62

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE 1: Organizational Structure Diagram of Sea and Island Branch…………21
FIGURE 2: Number of Oil Spills between 1970 and 2014 in the world…………..22
FIGURE 3: Oil Spill Response Organizational Structure………………………….26

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INTRODUCTION
Necessitation
The development of maritime transport industry poses immense threats to
environment in Haiphong which is one of largest seaports in Vietnam and especially
lies at the important point of “Two economic corridors – One economic ring”.
Currently, there are over 40 ports operating along the Cam- Bach Dang River in

Haiphong. Due to large scale shipping activities, Haiphong Port Waters is at high
risk for oil spills effecting significantly to environment, economy, tourism industry,
and human health. Although there have been few ship-source oil spill accidents in
Haiphong Port Waters over the last several years, such accidents still happen
primarily due to human activities approximately 90 per cent. Until now, petrol
companies, ports, shipping companies and local authorities as well have been good
practices in oil spill preparedness and response such as building up oil spill
contingency plans, organizing training courses, conducting oil spill drills which
assist oil spill response rapidly and effectively. Nonetheless, in the case of actual
accidents, some companies still become relatively unconfident perhaps because of
subjective thinking. In addition, because the methods for responding to oil spills are
constantly evolving and each oil spill provides an opportunity to learn how to better
prepare for future incidents, the preparedness and response are also constantly
evolving and improving – ensuring increased protection for human health and
environment from these accidents. For such reasons, this research paper becomes
necessary for organizations with regard to oil spill response.
Research Object
The objects of the research paper are preparedness and response for shipsource oil spill in Haiphong Port Waters.
The objective of this study is to provide global oil spill situation; current
status of oil spill preparedness and response and to propose some recommendations
to improve preparedness and response in Haiphong Port Waters. Furthermore,
unlike most emergencies that occur with little warnings but are over in a relatively
short period of time, an oil spill incident can also occur with little warning but may
extend for weeks, months or even years. Hence, best practice in preparedness
provides opportunities for the response community to work together as a team and
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develop the interpersonal relationship that can mean so much to the smooth
functioning of a response. It is hope that with the application of this, the impact and
damages on the marine environment caused by an oil spill will be very much
minimized if not totally avoided.
Research Scope
Oil spills take place for variety of reasons, some arise from non-operational
sources such as urban runoff and natural seepage; from nature and human activity
on land; or drilling works carried out in sea. However, this study focuses deeply on
accidental spills of oil from vessels or barges in Haiphong Port Waters like a
collision; grounding of vessels carrying crude oil and product in local ports and
faulty equipment since 2004 and offers some recommendations to enhance
preparedness and response for oil spill accident based on their evaluations since
2013. Though the oil spill preparedness and response is divided into 3 tiers: Tier 1Grassroots spills and provincial spills, tier 2- regional spills and tier 3- national
spills, this writing paper only concentrates on Tier 1 response: Provincial spills
(means beyond capability of Grassroots spills).
Research Method
Both Descriptive - quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this
study to gain unique and important insights into the research problem. In particular,
this research provides descriptions of preparedness and response for ship-source oil
spill by using direct observations, document review, face to face conversations with
Sea and Island Branch. Moreover, numerical descriptions also were offered clearly
in this dissertation such as figures for oil spill accidents in Haiphong Port Waters as
well as in the world.
Research Findings
This research provides readers with a whole picture of ship-source oil spills
in Haiphong Port Waters. Particularly, oil spill accidents, which have occurred
irregularly in Haiphong Port Waters over the last several years and the majority of

oil spills is only medium oil spills, which has total amount of spilled oil from 20 to
500 tones pursuant to the Decision No. 02/2013/QĐ-TTg dated January 14, 2013 of
the Prime Minister to promulgate the regulation on oil spill response; caused by
broken equipment, collision, shipwreck and grounding. In addition, the similar
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pattern is repeated in global oil spill but such incidents still happen and eventually
lead to dramatic dangers to marine environment as well as human health. With
regard to oil spill preparedness and response, most of organizations being shipping
companies, ports, petrol companies and others had their own oil spill contingency
plans; conduct oil spill response drills and organize training courses on oil spill
response. However there have been some issues which need to handle them as soon
as possible with the sake of minimizing impacts and damages caused by oil spill
accident. These issues will be mentioned more detailed in chapter 2.

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CHAPTER 1

LITERATURE REVIEW
1.1
Oil spill
1.1.1 Definition of Oil
The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from ship,
1973(MARPOL 73/78) defines as follows: “Oil as petroleum in any form including
crude oil, fuel oil, sludge, oil refuse and refined products (other than petrochemicals
which are subject to the provisions of the Annex II of the Convention for the
Prevention of Pollution from Ships) and without limiting the generality of the
foregoing, includes the substances listed in Appendix I to Annex 1of the 1973
Convention”.
1.1.2 Oil pollution
Oil pollution is one of the most conspicuous forms of damage to the marine
environment. Oil enters the seas not only as a result of spectacular oil tanker or oil
rig disasters, but also – and primarily – from diffuse sources, such as leaks during
oil extraction, illegal tank-cleaning operations at sea, or discharges into the rivers
which are then carried into the sea.(1)
1.1.3 Definition of oil spill and Types of oil spill
An oil spill is a form of environmental pollution. It is the release of a liquid
petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment as a result of human activity.(2)
There are three types of oil spill being spills from ships, spills from offshore
drilling and spills from pipelines.(3)
1.1.4 Ship-source oil spill
An oil spill is a form of environmental pollution. It is the release of a liquid
petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment from the vessels. Costs incurred for
removing oil spills are relatively high, and it may take several months or in some
cases many years to clean up the spills.(4)
1.1.5 Causes of oil spill accident from vessels
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Oil spills can arise from a number of different sources ranging from a
collision or grounding of vessels carrying crude oil and product in local ports or
coastal waters and from breaking down of equipment in the tanker or vessels. They
can also arise from tankers or barges operating on inland waterways, or from
exploration and production operation and tankers operating in international waters.
Furthermore, ship-source oil spill also happen due to other reasons, some of these
are:
- Acts of terrorism, whereby there is intentional oil spills;
- Hostile acts: When two nations are at war, one may decide to dump gallons
of oil into the other national’s oceans;
- Natural disasters such as hurricanes. (5)
It is obvious that the majority of such reasons involve in human errors
(approximately 90 per cent).
1.1.6 Impacts of oil spill
a) Environmental effects
First of these is the environmental effect. The animal life that lives in the
water or near the shore is the ones most affected by the spill. In most cases, the oil
simply chokes the animals to death. Others that live face a number of other
problems. The oil works its way into the fur and plumage of the animals.
Consequently, both birds and mammals find it harder to float in the water or
regulate their body temperatures.
In addition, many baby animals and birds starve to death, since their parents
cannot detect their natural body scent. Birds that preen themselves to get rid of the
oil accidentally swallow the oil and die due to the toxic effects. In many cases, the

animals become blind due to repeated exposure to the oil. Dolphins, sea otters, fish,
countless species of birds and many oceanic mammals face these consequences.
Countering these effects and cleaning the oil can take anywhere between a few
weeks to many years, depending on the damage caused. (6)
b) Effect on economy

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The second major effect of the oil spill is seen on the economy. When
precious crude oil or refined petroleum is lost, it affects the amount of petroleum
and gas available for use. This means more barrels have to be imported from other
countries. Then it comes to the process of cleaning the oil spill, which requires a lot
of financing. Although the company must be responsible for the oil spills and their
effects have to clean it up, there is a lot of government help required at this point.
Furthermore, the workers that are brought on board to clean up the spill or relate
directly to cleaning up oil spill face to tremendous health problems later in life as
well. Their medical treatment has to be paid for and becomes the responsibility of
the government. Putting all the methods of recovery into place and monitoring them
takes away resources from other more important work and hits the economy in
subtle but powerful ways.(7)
c) Effect on tourism industry
The local tourism industry suffers a huge setback as most of the tourists stay
away from such places. Dead birds, sticky oil and huge tarballs become common
sight. Due to this, various recreational activities such as bathing, boating, angling

and diving for shorter or longer periods of time cannot be performed in shorter or
longer periods of time.(8) Therefore, attractive coastal beaches and resorts are
affected the costs could be high. As a result, hotel and restaurant owners, and others
who have their income from recreational activities in the coastal zone — boat
renters, diving tour operators, angling tour operators and many more — may suffer
significant economic losses.(9)
d) Social-economic effects
In terms of fisheries and aquaculture: An oil spill can have a number of
direct and indirect effects on fisheries. Valuable fishing and shellfish areas may be
closed for fishing for shorter or longer periods because of the risks of the catch
being tainted by oil. Concentrations of petroleum contaminants in fish and crab
tissue, as well as contamination of shellfish, could pose a significant potential for
adverse human health effects, and until these products from near shore fisheries or
aquaculture have been cleared by the health authorities, they could be banned from
human consumption. Indirectly, the fisheries sector will suffer a heavy loss if
consumers are either stopped from using or unwilling to buy fish and shellfish from
the regions affected by the spill (10). After that, a large number of fishermen can
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cope with jobless situation and then the unemployment rate also might climb
dramatically as well.
e) Effects on human health
People’s health could be adversely affected by oil either when inhaling or
touching oil products, or when eating contaminated sea food.

When cleaning up oil products from the water surface or the shoreline, one
must always take certain precautions. One needs to wear a face mask or filter mask
be protected from inhaling vapors from oils. One also needs to use protective
clothing to avoid getting in skin contact with the oil — and protective clothing
means oil- and waterproof gloves and oil- and waterproof clothes that cover at least
the front of one’s body, as well as strong rubber boots. The same safety precautions,
in principle, apply to people who risk coming into contact with lingering oil on
beaches — one should always avoid touching it, and in an acute phase one should
be careful not to inhale vapors from oil slicks. (11)
1.2
Legal basis
1.2.1 International conventions
TABLE 1: International Conventions

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1

Convention

Objective

CLC PROT 1992 / Protocol
of 1992 to amend


This convention provides for compensation
for damaged, or response cost incurred, due

International Convention on

to spills of persistent oils within a member

Civil Liability for Oil
Pollution Damaged, 1969

nation’s territorial sea or EEZ. Claims are
made against the vessel owner and insurers.
CLC is based on the principle of “strict
liability”, i.e., the vessel which spilled the
oil will pay regardless of fault.

2

OPRC 1990, International
Convention on Oil Pollution
Prevention, Response and
Cooperation.

This convention makes provision for
contingency plans for ships, offshore
platforms, coastal terminals and ports, and
for the development of national response
plan.
It also encourages the development of

international cooperation in spill
preparedness and response.

3

MARPOL 73/78,
International Convention for
the Protection of Pollution
from Ships 1973 as modified
by the Protocol 1978

It sets out a wide range of procedures and
ships design and operating requirements
aimed at reducing pollution of the sea from
ships - Annex 1 deals with oil pollution

4

London Convention 1972,

This convention regulates the discharge of

Convention on the Prevention
of Marine Pollution by
Dumping of Waste and other
Matter, 1972, as amended

waste, including oily waste, at sea

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5

Intervention 1969,
International Convention
relating to the intervention on

This Convention affirms the right of a
coastal State to take such measure on the
high seas as may be necessary to prevent,

the high seas in cases of oil
pollution casualties, 1969

mitigate, or eliminate danger to its coastline
or related interest from pollution by oil or
the threat thereof, following a maritime
casualty

Source: />1.2.2 Vietnamese laws, circular, decree, decision, branch standard
For Vietnam, which currently is in the group of the poorest nations, the first
priority is given to the economy. However, in parallel to the rapid development,
Vietnam is facing a number of environmental issues. With the early awareness of
such challenges, the Government of Vietnam (GOV) has had a focus on

environmental protection, specifically in protection of the marine environment and
oil spill response. This is shown via legislative documents as follows:
- Circular No 31/2010/TT-BGTVT announcement about the port waters
within Haiphong territory, explained more detailed about Haiphong Port Waters
definition;
- Law No.23/2004/QH11 dated June 15th 2004 of the Constitution of
Socialist Republic of Vietnam on inland waterway navigation;
- Environmental protection law No: 52/2005/QH11 dated November 29th
2005 of the Constitution of Socialist Republic of Vietnam;
- Vietnam Maritime Code No: 40/2005/QH11 dated June 14th 2005 of the
Constitution of Socialist Republic of Vietnam;
- Law No. 18/2012/QH13 dated June 21, 2012 of the National Assembly on
Vietnamese sea;
- Law No. 27/2001/QH10 of June 29th 2001 on Fire Prevention and Fighting;
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- Law No.10/2008/QH12 of June 3rd 2008, amending and supplementing a
number of article of the Petroleum Law;
- Decree of Government No. 25/2009/ND-CP on integrated management of
natural resources and environmental protection of the sea and islands;
- Decree of Government No. 179/2013/NĐ-CP of November 14th 2013 on
the regulations for penalties for violations against environmental protection;
- Decree of Government No.48/2000/NĐ-CP of September 12th 2000
detailing the implementation of the petroleum law;

- Decree of Government No. 113/2010/NĐ-CP of December 3rd, 2010,
providing for the determination of environmental damage;
- Circular No. 2262/TT-MTg of December 29th 1995, issued by MOSTE
regulating temporarily for responding to oil spill incident;
- Decree of government No.21/2012/ND-CP of March 21st 2012 on
management of seaports and navigable channels;
- Decree of Government No.35/2003/ND-CP of April 4th 2003 detailing the
implementation of a number of articles of the Law on fire prevention and fighting;
- Decision of Prime Minister No. 41/1999/QĐ-TTg of March 8th 1999,
promulgating the regulation on safety control in petroleum activities;
- Decision No. 800/QĐ-UBND dated May 7th 2009 of Haiphong People’s
Committee on issuing regulations on organizing and operating the department of
flood and storm prevention and searching and rescue;
- Letter No. 69/CV-UB dated 31/5/2005 by National Searching and Rescue
Committee on guiding to establish and update Oil Spill Response Plan and ESI Map
for coastal provinces and cities;
- Decision No. 02/2013/QĐ-TTg dated January 14, 2013 of the Prime
Minister to promulgate the regulation on oil spill response;

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- Decision of Haiphong People’s Committee No.587/QĐ-UBND dated
March 13th, 2014 on building up plans for oil spill response in some places in
Haiphong city;

- Decree No. 80 /2006/ND-CP detailing and guiding the implementation of a
number of articles of the Law on environmental Protection;
- Decree of government No. 07/2005/QĐ-BGTVT dated January 7th 2005 on
the regulations for managing port operation, including regulations for banning
means of transportation, vessels from discharging garbage, dirty sewage, other toxic
substance;
- Decision No. 50/2006 QD-BGTVT of December 28, 2006, Promulgating
Branch Standard 22 TCN 264-06 Regulations on Prevention of Pollution Caused by
Inland Waterway Means of Transport;
- Branch Standard 22 TCN 264-2000 includes rules and regulations for
prevention of pollution from River-going ships;
- Branch Standard 22 TCN 281-01 consists of rules and regulations for
construction and classification of dangerous chemical small Steel bulk Carrier.
However, among all of these, preparedness and response activities for shipsource oil spill are given clearly in Decision No. 02/2013/QĐ-TTg dated January
14, 2013 of the Prime Minister to promulgate the regulation on oil spill response.
Some definitions and the contents of preparedness and response are presented more
detailed as following:
a) Preparedness and response
 Preparedness:
- The development, appraisal and approval of Oil Spill Contingency Plan
(OSCP) at Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, Provincial People’s Committee approves OSCP at
Tier 1, Vietnam National Committee for Search and Rescue approves OSCP at Tier
2 and Prime Minister approves OSCP at Tier 3.
- Oil spill response capacity building: organizations that may cause oil spill
incident have to make investment of oil spill response equipment or to sign oil spill
response service contract with service providers or oil spill response regional
centers.
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- Regular training and exercise: Provincial People’s Committee is
responsible for conducting regular training course on oil spill response for
provincial environmental officers and persons in charge of oil spill response from
companies that may cause oil spill incident; regional centers are responsible for
organizing training on oil spill response according to training plan approved by
Vietnam National Committee for Search and Rescue; Vietnam National Committee
for Search and Rescue is responsible for conducting national oil spill response
exercise. (12)
 Response:
Oil spill response: Oil spill notification and report in oil spill response
Oil spill response at Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3: the polluter is responsible for
mobilizing resources to combat oil spill. If the spill exceeds the response capacity of
the polluter, the provincial People’s Committee is responsible for spill response,
mobilizing response resources of regional center and other organizations based in
the province to deal with the spill. In case the province is not capable of combating
the spill, the provincial People’s Committee will report to the Vietnam National
Committee for Search and Rescue for direction and cooperation with relevant
agencies in organizing the response. If the oil spill goes beyond the response of
domestic resources, the Vietnam National Committee for Search and Rescue shall
propose the Prime Minister to consider and decide on the request for international
assistance. (13)
b) Oil Spill Classification
Pursuant to the Decision No. 02/2013/QĐ-TTg dated January 14, 2013 of the
Prime Minister to promulgate the regulation on oil spill response, in chapter I,
article 6, the size of a spillage is grouped into three levels as following:

- Level 1: Minor oil spill: is an oil spill which has total amount of spilled oil
under 20 tones.
- Level 2: Medium oil spill: is an oil spill which has total amount of spilled
oil from 20 to 500 tones.
- Level 3: Major oil spill: is an oil spill which has total amount of spilled oil
over 500 tones.
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The classification of 3 levels of oil spill incidents helps to build up oil spill
contingency plan, determine the level of equipment investment, resources,
personnel in order to prepare and response timely toward each tiered- response. (14)
c) Concept of Tiered Response
Pursuant to the Decision No. 02/2013/QĐ-TTg dated January 14, 2013 of the
Prime Minister to promulgate the regulation on oil spill response, in chapter I,
article 5, it states that National Oil Spill Response System is divided into 3 tiers:
Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 with specific responsibilities, corresponding to 3 resources:
governmental, provincial and private industry resources.
 The oil spill preparedness and response is divided into three tiers: Tier 1,
Tier 2, and Tier 3:
- Tier 1 response: Grassroots spills
 Ship-source oil spill at sea:
Pursuant to the Decision No. 02/2013/QĐ-TTg dated January 14, 2013 of the
Prime Minister to promulgate the regulation on oil spill response, in chapter 3,
article 14- oil spill response due to ship-source oil spill at sea, it states that: When

ship-source oil spill occurs, ship must carry out immediately methods of treating oil
spills in accordance with the oil spill contingency plan to mitigate the amount of oil
spilled into environment, and must report instantly to the local authorities as pointed
out in Article 12.
In the case of that oil spill arising from shipping accidents (collision,
shipwreck, and grounding), oil spill response must be carried out as following:
- The regional oil spill response center (in Haiphong: Northern Oil Spill
Response Center – the 128 one member limited Liabilities Company) has to
implement service contract as required by captain, ship-owner or agent of shipowner. In addition, it also must have responsibility of co-operating with the
Department of Flood and Storm prevention and searching and rescue of City and
People’s Committee of City.
- The commander in this case will have to enough oil spill response
experience and capability and will be appointed by the competent authority.
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In the case of that oil spill is caused by many vessels, vessels must cooperate to deal with consequences together and comply with guidance of Port
Authority and on-scene commander.
If oil spill happens on the large scale, the commander has to report to the
Vietnam National Search and Rescue Committee to supervise oil spilled by radar,
helicopter …
 Ship-source oil spill in or near ports (close to shore)
Ship-source oil spill in or near ports means that oil spill arising from
operational accidents such as those that might occur during loading, discharging and
bunkering or from shipping accidents like ship collision with wharf, or ship

collision with each other near or at port.
Pursuant to the Decision No. 02/2013/QĐ-TTg dated January 14, 2013 of the
Prime Minister to promulgate the regulation on oil spill response, in chapter 3,
article 16- oil spill response in or near ports. It states that:
Inland ports involve in many activities such as exporting, importing, using
oil and oil products. Therefore, such ports have to build up, and implement plans for
oil spill response and sign the service contract with Northern Oil Spill Response
Center or other oil spill response companies when oil spill take place. If oil spill
incidents are beyond the capabilities of inland ports, they have to contact with oil
spill response companies that signed service contract in advance and Provincial
People’s Committee for being supported in case of need; this circumstance is called
“Provincial spills”.
The Port authority has to co-operate with stakeholders to supervise and
evaluate oil spill response effectively. If port’s oil spill response is not effect or oil
spill incidents could pose a significant potential for adverse consequences, the port
authority must report immediately to the Local People’s Committee in order to direct
oil spill response.
In case of need, the Port authority is able to keep recycling oil temporary after
collecting them and preserve them in order to ensure compensation as well as
damages for ship- source marine oil spill. Handing over such collected oil is based on
the compensation agreed and undertaken with the ship-owner. If the ship-owner
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causes oil spill without setting up compensation funds, the Director of the Port

Authority, Authorized Parties, Response Forces are entitled to sue these ones for
damages for the sake of compensating cleanup costs and other losses for oil spills.
Oil spill response at naval ports and inland ports are applied to above
regulations. With regard to naval vessels, government-owned ships, which cause oil
spills, are not applied above regulations including: keeping recycling oil temporary
after collecting them or put in a claim for damages as mentioned cases. (15)
- Tier 2 response: Regional Spills
If oil spill extends capabilities of tier 1 response or oil spill occurs with
unclear reasons and oil drifts out to seashore of other provinces, they are called
“Tier 2 response: Regional Spills”
Vietnam territory is divided into 3 regions for oil spill response:
The Northern region: it covers all the northern provinces and cities
southward to the end of Quang Binh province; the entire sea area in Tonkin Gulf
within the scope of coping with oil spill incidents stretching to parallel 17◦10’N.
The Central region: it covers all the provinces and cities of the Central
Vietnam from Quang Tri province to Ninh Thuan province’s southernmost point;
the entire sea area within the scope of coping with oil spill incidents from parallel
17◦10’N to 11◦20’N.
The Southern region: it covers all the southern provinces and cities from
Binh Thuan province to Ca Mau and Kien Giang provinces’ southernmost points;
the entire sea area from parallel 11◦20’N, stretching southward, to the southern limit
of this national plan’s scope of coping with oil spill incidents.
Each region has to establish a regional oil spill response center; the regional
response center organization is regulated below:
The Provincial People’s Committee, where takes place oil spill, has to be
responsible for taking the leading role in order to organize oil spill response
according to the Regional Emergency Plan. Based on oil spill situation, the
Provincial People’s Committee urgently commands and supplies necessary
resources of departments, ministries, branches to respond timely. If oil spill
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incidents spread out other provinces, the Provincial People’s Committee, in which
happens oil spill incident, must take initiative in reporting the Provincial People’s
Committee, which is able to be affected by oil spill, for oil spill response
cooperation, as well as the National Search and Rescue Committee for preparedness
of supportive projects in case of need. (16)
Three response forces in three regions:
- Navy No.128 Company (FOR THE NORTH)
Assigned temporarily to respond to oil spill incident in the north
Main working area: Haiphong port, Ha Long Bay
Personnel: a small response team (90 personnel)
Experiences: 2 years with real incidents
- Autumn River Company (FOR THE CENTRE)
Officially launches its operations as a NORC in 2003
Main working area: Da Nang Port, Nha Trang and Vung Ro Bay
Personnel: 10-15 persons
Experiences: 2 years with real incidents
- PV Drilling: ( FOR THE SOUTH)
Assigned temporarily to respond to oil spill incident in the South
Main working area: all oil fields in Vietnam territory and oil transfer area on
rivers in Vung Tau, Ho Chi Minh, Dong Nai…
Equipment: diverse and enough to cope with a spill (booms, skimmers,
tanks, chemicals, bio-degradable adsorbent, auxiliaries)
Experience: since 1994, carry out such exercise (6-10 times/ year) and

respond to real incidents (17)
- Tier 3 response: National Spills
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National Spills: This will cover major incidents, the scale and scope of which
is beyond the capabilities of the Tier 2 response.
In such case, National Search and Rescue Committee guides directly oil spill
response in accordance with National Emergency Plan. Moreover, the
responsibilities of National Search and Rescue Committee are:
- Directs and co-ordinates national centers;
- Reports to the Government the result of response operations.
National Oil Spill Response centers have to:
- Conduct directly the response operations;
- Co-ordinate and control directly with response teams from other resources
attending to the response operations;
- Report response results to the National Search and Rescue Committee;
- Contact to international cooperating operations if oil spill incidents exceed
the capabilities of national force.
Response teams of the National Oil Spill Response Center take charge of
preparing and arranging equipment, personnel, and vehicles to carry out response
operations. (18)
 Note: Nonetheless, This paper only researches on Tier 1 response:
Provincial spills (means ports, vessels, or petrol companies cannot respond oil spill
by itself).

d) Oil Spill Contingency Plan
The Oil Spill Contingency Plan has to be built up in advance with the
purpose of minimizing the potential effects on marine and shoreline environments
that could result from a marine oil spill.
The OSCP ought to illustrate responsibilities, duties and relationship
between organizations, agencies, other stakeholders in oil spill response operations.
It also must show spill scenarios, oil spill response organization along with response
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technologies, equipment, personnel, vehicles and finance in order to handle
effectively oil spill as soon as possible. (19)
Relating to organizations which must have OSCP, according to legal
requirements, in Vietnam there are 28 coastal provinces and each with its own
contingency plan. The Local authorities are responsible for dealing with acute spills
that may occur within the province and exceed the response capacity of private
industry. Moreover, There are also other organizations who are obligatory to have
oil spill contingency plan, these includes oil companies who carry out offshore
drilling campaign, refineries, ports, oil tankers, ships, companies trading refined oil,
thermal power plants, or companies who uses the large amount of oil in production
activity such as Dai Hai Oil and Gas Limited Liability Company, DAP
VINACHEM Joint Stock Company, Trading and Transport Materials Import Export
Join Stock Company, 19-9 Join Stock Company, Haiphong Cement Packing Joint
Stock Company, Haiphong Thermal Power Joint Stock. These organizations also
have to sign service contracts with oil spill response service providers or to procure

adequate equipment with well-trained personnel capable of operating the
equipment. (20)
Regarding the content of OSCP, pursuant to the Decision No. 587/QĐUBND dated May 13th, 2014 of Haiphong People’s Committee 2014 on building up
plans for oil spill response in some companies in Haiphong City, it points out that
OSCP must include in 8 chapters:
Chapter 1: The general issue
Chapter 2: Economic conditions, Social economic, Ecological environment
Chapter 3: The location of production activities, oil spill sources
Chapter 4: Means of transport, oil spill response equipment, response
personnel
Chapter 5: Oil spill response organizational structure, responsibilities of
stakeholders in oil spill response
Chapter 6: Oil spill response process
Chapter 7: Compensation
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