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BTA revises UK standard conditions for towage
A major piece of legal documentation covering ship towage and tug operations has been revised in the UK to take into account technology advances in the past 38 years
The British Tugowners Association (BTA) has revised the UK Standard Conditions for Towage and Other Services (UKSCT) to update it for an industry working with new technologies and challenges.
UKSCT provides a framework of liability protection for tugs when assisting other vessels and was originally introduced in the 1920s.
It has been revised and updated since then, notably in 1974 and in 1986, but does not incorporate many of the technical advances introduced and adopted since then, particularly automation, electronic systems and digitalisation.
BTA, as the custodian of the UKSCT, engaged with wider industry and interested parties to establish a panel in 2023 to review conditions within the standard.
That review concluded with the publication of the UKSCT 2024 at the BTA’s safety seminar near Edinburgh, Scotland, and the European Tugowners Association conference in Rome, Italy, in November 2024. The towage industry has been invited to note and make use of the revised conditions.
Review panel chair Nick Dorman said the UKSCT provides the legal assurances required for insurers to provide cover to tug owners so they can provide these services.
“It is designed to allow claims to be dealt with promptly, which benefits both insurers and assureds. Therefore, it is important the intention of the provisions are made clear,” said Mr Dorman in a forward.
“Towage is complex and places tugs in potentially hazardous positions where they are often under the direction of a third party, be that a ship master or pilot.”
The review panel included members drawn from the BTA, the International Group of P&I Clubs, senior admiralty lawyers from several prominent international firms, the UK Chamber of Shipping and the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.
At the seminar, Mr Dorman thanked the members of the review panel for their engagement, professional expertise and diligence, culminating in the 2024 version of this longstanding and effective towage agreement.
The last comprehensive review of UKSCT was in 1974, with a subsequent update in 1986 in light of UK legislation that was considered at that time necessary to be reflected in the conditions.
The wording brought in during 1986 led to some tug operators in the Commonwealth (in particular in Canada, New Zealand and Australia) continuing to use the more generic 1974 conditions.
However, the 1986 revision of UKSCT is understood and applied widely in courts across many jurisdictions.
“However, it lacks the language to allow it to be relevant in a contemporary world of, among other things, automation, electronic systems and digitalisation,” said Mr Dorman.
“In addition, some of the legislation the 1986 revision was seeking to deal with, such as the Unfair Contract Terms Act (1977), is now better understood and tested in the courts.
“The 1986 version amendments can now therefore be updated to reflect the tested interpretation of those laws. Simply put, while the 1986 UKSCT version was in many respects functioning well, it required modernisation.”
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