Financial vulnerability assessment : Who would pay for oil tanker spills associated with the Northern Gateway Pipeline?

The ship owners must also carry a certificate aboard the ship as proof of their insurance cover- age.24 In most cases, it will be the ship owner’s insurer that pays claims up to the maxim- um limit of liability of the ship owner under the Civil Liability Convention.25 The certificates must be in the form prescribed in Article VII of the Civil Liability Con- vention. [...] Groups of ship owners agree to insure one another’s vessels for the mutual benefit of all the owners.28 An insurer is entitled to receive the benefit of the limit of liability under the Civil Liabil- ity Convention even when the ship owner is not entitled to do so because of the operation of Article V paragraph 2 of the Civil Liability Convention. [...] The value of the national currency, in terms of the SDR, of a Contracting State (a country which is a party to the convention) which is a member of the International Monetary Fund is calculated in accordance with the method of valuation applied by the International Monetary Fund in effect on the date in question for its operations and transactions. [...] The certificate is required to include: the name of ship and port of registration, the name and principal place of business of the owner, the type of security, the name and principal place of business of the insurer or other person giving security, and, where appropriate, the place of business where the insurance or security is estab- lished, and the period of the validity of the certificate, whic [...] According to subsection 56(2) of the Marine Liability Act the certificates required by the Civil Liability Convention shall be issued by the Minister of Transport if the ship is re- gistered in Canada (or if the ship is registered to a country other than Canada that is not a party to the Civil Liability Convention) and the Minister is satisfied that the ship owner has a valid contract of insurance