Oil Spill Contingency Plan

An oil spill contingency plan is a pre-arranged document setting out reporting procedures, command roles, response strategies, and resource lists for an oil discharge. At ship level it is the SOPEP, required by MARPOL Annex I Regulation 37 for all ships of 400 GT and above and oil tankers of 150 GT and above, listing emergency contacts, discharge-reporting steps, and onboard mitigation actions; the SMPEP combines it with the Annex II noxious-liquid plan. National and regional plans implement the OPRC Convention 1990 and structure tiered response. Without an approved plan a ship cannot hold its IOPP certificate and risks port-state detention.