Maritime Shipping

MSRC’s dedicated equipment portfolio consists of assets to handle the largest worst-case discharge (WCD) offshore scenarios for tanker events miles offshore, as well as nearshore and shoreline resources to mount effective responses in ports, and harbors, and for vessel transfer operations. Drill and deployment exercise support is included in the annual contract, and MSRC customers earn TMSA credit for Element 11 at no additional charge. MSRC never fails to respond effectively to an oil spill response incident and is even brought in at times by the USCG Federal on-scene Commander to lead on water recovery operations when the cited OSROs are not able to perform in spill responses.

The contract period and annual dues/retainer for tank vessel fleets is one calendar year. MSRC covers all tank vessels in a company’s U.S. vessel response plan (VRP), however MPA member dues are based on the total number of tank vessels that call on the U.S. between January 1 and December 31 each year. For example, if 120 tank vessels are listed in a VRP with the option to call on the U.S., but only 12 of them call on the U.S. in a calendar year, then your MPA Membership pricing is based on the U.S. activity of those 12 tanker vessels, even though all 120 tank vessels are covered. All non-tank vessels in your fleet including bulkers, LNG ships or other dry cargo carriers are included in your MSRC OSRO coverage at no additional cost to your Tank Vessel dues. In other words, MSRC OSRO coverage for your non-tank vessel response plans (NTVRPs) are included in your tank vessel dues.

Please Contact MPA directly for quotes on your tanker fleets and have an estimate prepared of the number of vessels that will call the U.S. in the next calendar year. MPA will provide you with a quote based on your last 12 months of activity, and if you anticipate more or fewer vessels to call the U.S. in a calendar year, MPA adjusts your annual dues invoice according to your estimate of U.S. vessel activity. At the end of the year, MPA will either credit or invoice the difference between actual activity and the estimated amount of U.S. activity.

MSRC only charges additional fees when we need to contract third-party support to provide a service. Here is a list of services that commonly carry additional fees and MSRC’s cost, if any:

MSRC’s dedicated equipment portfolio consists of assets to handle the largest WCD offshore scenarios for ultra large container ships miles offshore, as well as nearshore and shoreline resources to mount effective responses to bunkering operations in ports and harbors. MSRC never fails to respond effectively to an oil spill response incident and is even brought in at times by the USCG Federal on-scene Commander to lead on water recovery operations when the cited OSROs are not able to perform in spill responses.

The cost for an entire non-tank fleet per year is $500, including the fleets for any affiliate companies with 50% or more shared ownership. Whether your fleet calling the U.S. has one ship or 150 ships, all of the vessels in your NTVRP are covered under the flat annual dues amount of $500. You will not be asked to commit to multi-year contracts, as MSRC wants to earn your business every year.

MSRC provides Free Transit for non-tank vessels in:

• Santa Barbara Channel, both lanes
• Hawaii, full island chain

MSRC only charges additional fees when we need to contract third-party support to provide a service. Here is a list of OSRO services for non-tank vessels that commonly carry additional fees and MSRC’s cost, if any:

Washington State

To call on Washington state, vessel operators need to contract with a local SMT/QI administering an “Umbrella Plan”. This is in addition to contracting a classified OSRO for the Washington area.

MSRC partners with Washington State Maritime Cooperative (WSMC) to meet Washington State Contingency Plan requirements for tank and non-tank vessels entering Puget Sound and Grays Harbor. Please visit the WSMC website for more information on how to sign up with WSMC.

An MSRC Customer can call Washington state as long as they have enrolled with WSMC in these easy steps:

1. Sign the WSMC Enrollment Agreement: (Hardcopy pdf)
   • If authorized agent is submitting on behalf of owner/operator include the Authorized Agent letter.
2. Complete the Schedule of Vessel Information, One Form Per Vessel (Hardcopy pdf or Online)
3. Pay WSMC First Transit Fee upon first Vessel Arrival into Washington State waters (range $1,100 – $7,500 depending on vessel WCD)
4. Pay Subsequent Transit Fees upon subsequent vessel arrivals into Washington state waters ($275 per vessel entry)

See additional instructions for ERS/ERTV transit and for reciprocal WCMRC coverage in Canadian waters.

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Alaska

While MSRC cannot be directly cited for VRPs and NTVRPs for OSRO coverage in Alaska, MSRC supports its customers in Alaska with Tier 2 / Tier 3 support. This means for large events or events that require specialized equipment like advanced surveillance or communications packages, MSRC can send equipment from the U.S. mainland within 12-24-36 hour arrival times to augment the Tier 1 response carried out by a local Alaska OSRO.

MSRC will provide additional capability to its customers enrolled with all local Tier 1 providers, including:

• CISPRI – Western Alaska
• One Call Alaska RESOLVE – Western Alaska
• Chadux & The Network – Western Alaska
• SeaPro – Southeastern Alaska
• SERVS – Prince William Sound

We are happy to help you navigate this process. Please contact MSRC Customer Service.

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Outer Pacific Islands

MSRC will provide augmented support for responses in the Outer Pacific Islands (Guam, Saipan, American Samoa). MSRC’s equipment staged in Hawaii and the West Coast and their respective cascade schedules are directly referenced for APCs held by the Spill Management Teams/QIs for the Outer Pacific Islands.

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Canada and International Support

MSRC is able to support international events. However, MSRC cannot be cited for international response planning requirements. Specialized equipment such as advanced surveillance, communications packages, pyro-boom and High-Volume Skimming Packages can be sent by air to support an international event without impact to U.S. regulatory requirements. Requests for international response support are considered on a case-by-case basis and granted where there is no adverse impact to response plan compliance of any MSRC customer.

MSRC has impartial working relationships with all SMTs and QIs that serve the maritime industry to support our mutual customers.
These include:

• Compliance Systems
• ECM
• Gallagher Marine
• Forefront
• Hudson Marine
• O’Brien’s
• iWorkwise

MSRC provides complete U.S. USCG OSRO coverage to fulfill VRP and NTVRP citation requirements for all COTP zones, except Alaska, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa. MSRC OSRO coverage areas include Hawaii, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands (St. Croix) and the Great Lakes.

The USCG OSRO classification program does not list “approved” OSROs. The program assigns OSRO Classification to contractors that meet the minimum equipment requirements towards a discharge scenario and marine environment in a particular captain of the port (COTP) zone. This does not mean that the USCG approves of the OSRO’s capability to respond effectively. Vessel Operators are responsible and liable for verifying that your OSRO can respond to all of your spill scenarios, regardless of the OSRO classification held by the OSRO. If an OSRO fails to perform and mount an effective response, the Operator/Responsible Party will be held liable, not the OSRO. Furthermore, the OSRO will likely maintain its OSRO classification despite its performance, because it still meets the minimum equipment standards in the COTP zone. Therefore, it is very important that vessel operators and their SMTs evaluate the capability and verify the reliability of their OSRO for all their spill scenarios.

Use the OSRO Evaluation Checklist to assess an OSRO's capabilities and select the best OSRO for you.