Cruise terror liability breakthrough
PARIS 25 October – An agreement during last week’s IMO legal committee meeting in France could help clear the path for ratification of the Athens Convention 2002 protocols. When ratified, the protocols would set strict cruise operator liabilities of roughly $375,000 per passenger per incident (plus an additional $200,000/passenger in negligence liabilities) and allow plaintiffs to seek redress from both ship owners and insurers, thus requiring a ‘certificate of insurance’ from P&I clubs. “The problem was that P&I clubs couldn’t provide certificates of insurance for terrorism or war risk, leaving operators with potential uninsured liabilities of close to a billion dollars per ship per incident,” International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL) president Michael Crye told Fairplay. The first component of a solution came in April, when UK-based insurance broker Marsh agreed to provide cruise operators certificates of insurance for up to $500M/vessel/incident at a price of around $0.10/passenger/day to cover terrorism and war risk. The second component came at the IMO meeting last week in Paris, where it was agreed that signatories could ratify the 2002 protocols ‘by reservation’, agreeing to a reservation that limits shipowner liability for terrorism to $500M/vessel/incident. “Hopefully,” said Crye, “P&I clubs could provide certificates of insurance for non-war-risk and non-terrorism cover”, complementing the Marsh cover. “This provides a way forward, allowing shipowner liability to be linked to insurability,” said Crye, characterising the breakthrough as a compromise, not a victory.
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on jueves, octubre 26, 2006 at 7:24 a. m..
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