Single-hull tankers will not be allowed to trade in the UAE after 2010 despite indications by some Asian countries that they will welcome the tankers beyond the international phase-out deadline. The International Maritime Organization (IMO), the United Nations agency responsible for improving maritime safety and preventing pollution from ships, said all vessels more than 20 years old must be withdrawn from service, while all single-hull vessels have to be replaced by double-hull ones by 2010. “We are streamlining our regulations and we have made it clear that no single-hull tankers will be allowed to trade in the UAE after the 2010 deadline,” said Badreya Ahmed Al Dhahri, director of the Marine Affairs Department at the National Transport Authority (NTA), which is responsible for the registration of all ships in the UAE.
