Offer to city on fuel spill: less than a third of cost

A day after Mayor Gregor Robertson said the city had been offered compensation of less than 30 per cent of its cleanup costs associated with the 2015 MV Marathassa bunker fuel spill, few details emerged as to why the city has been offered such a low amount.

Typically the Ship-source Oil Pollution Fund pays most of the costs associated with cleanup and within six months. “Historically, we have paid out 95 to 97 per cent of what claimants have asked for,” said David Cote, lawyer for the office that administers the fund.

Cote said the office only got the city claim two years after the spill, which explains in part the delay.

Cote said he couldn’t reveal specifics of the offer to the city. “There is a back and forth before a decision,” he said, adding a final offer had not been made to the city.

“This claim is an exceptional one both in its size, and in its number of claimants and all things have to be assessed simultaneously,” said Cote. “We are still working out some things.”

Once a final offer is made, the claimant has 60 days to accept or appeal.

The Canadian Coast Guard and the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority both brought claims to the fund after the spill and both have been settled by the fund, which then tries to recoup payouts from the shipping companies and their insurers.

In a statement on Monday, the city said its $550,000 cleanup bill includes salaries, equipment costs, lost revenue and amounts paid to third parties.

The city received an initial offer of compensation on Jan. 18. On Feb. 22, the city disputed the offer and provided additional documentation of its claim. On April 5, the fund office issued a final offer in the same amount as the first, but later withdrew it to allow for more talks between the two parties.

The city has also filed a claim against the owners of the Cypriot-registered vessel in Federal Court.

The city’s claim does not include the $180,000 the Vancouver Aquarium says it incurred in direct damages, liability and environmental testing costs associated with the spill.

The Liberal MP for FleetwoodPort Kells said he has asked for information on the reasons for the big gap between the two sides. “A reasonable person would say everyone needs to be transparent, and from the (fund administration’s) side, they need to be clear as to why they made a decision.”