Safety - The Swedish Club

Transcription

The Swedish Club
No. 1 - 2011 April
Owners have to reconsider their measures
Page 14-17
Six steps
towards improved
safety
Page 22-23
All vows renewed!
Page 13
The comings and goings of
DRUGs
Page 6-8
T H E S W E D I SH CLUB TRITON 1-2011
Content | No. 1 - 2011 April
Leader | On solid ground! 3
P&I | P&I coverage during post-casualty
towage 4-5
| The comings and goings of illegal
drug and chemical precursors 6-8
MarketING & |
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT | A business built to last 9
Fire | To allocate responsibilities and
reduce risk 10-12
Underwriting | All vows renewed 13
Piracy | Somali piracy today 14-17
Loss prevention | The Aqaba corn case
– a study of a cargo claim 18-19
| Demolishing an unused dolphin
– an incident to punish or reward? 20-21
| Six steps towards improved safety 22-23
Legal | The new Turkish commercial code 24-25
The Swedish Club | New MRM training providers 26
Academy | Out and about with MRM 26-29
Club information | Staff presentation:
| Hans Filipsson 30-31
| Joakim Enström 32-33
| News from Team Oslo Energy 34-35
| Notice Board 34-35
| News from Asia 36
| News from Piraeus 37
| News from Team I 38
| News from Team III 39
| Basic facts / New members 40
| Bohus fortress 40-41
| Out and about 41-42
| In Memoriam 43
| Staff news 43
| Club calendar 44
The Swedish Club is a mutual marine insurance
company, owned and controlled by its members.
The Club writes Protection & Indemnity, Freight,
Demurrage & Defence, Charterers' Liability, Hull &
Machinery, War risks, Loss of Hire insurance and any
additional insurance required by shipowners.
Head Office Sweden
Visiting adress Gullbergs Strandgata 6
411 04 Göteborg
Postal address P.O. Box 171
SE-401 22 Göteborg, Sweden
Tel +46 31 638 400
Fax +46 31 156 711
E-mail [email protected]
Emergency tel +46 31 151 328
Greece 5th Floor, 87 Akti Miaouli
GR-185 38 Piraeus, Greece
Tel +30 211 120 8400
Fax +30 210 452 5957
Hong Kong Suite 6306, Central Plaza
18 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Tel +852 2598 6238
Fax +852 2845 9203
Emergency tel +852 2598 6464
Japan Room 103, 6-1, 1 Chome,
Kaigan, Minatu-Ku
Tokyo 105-0022, Japan
Tel +81 3 6459 0870
Fax +81 3 6459 0871
Norway
Postal address
Tel
Mobile
E-mail
Emergency tel
House of Business, 6th floor
Tjuvholmen Allé 3
N-0252, Oslo, Norway
+47 9828 0514
+47 9486 1205
[email protected]
+46 31 151 328
The Swedish Club Triton is published three times
a year and distributed free of charge. The Swedish
Club Letter is an editorially independent newsletter
and opinions expressed by external contributors are
not necessarily those of The Swedish Club. Articles
herein are not intended to provide legal advice and
the Club does not accept responsibility for errors
or omissions or their consequences. For further information regarding any issue raised herein, please
contact our head office in Göteborg.
Editorial Advisory Board Peter Andersson,
Susanne Blomstrand, Henric Gard, Birgitta Hed,
Anders Leissner, Lars A. Malm, Lars Rhodin,
Tony Schröder, Carola Weidenholm.
Production co-ordinator Susanne Blomstrand.
PR-consultant TRS Public Relations Ltd., London.
Layout Eliasson Information, Göteborg.
Cover photo IStockPhoto.
Print PR Offset. 1104PR5200B
© The Swedish Club.
Articles or extracts may be quoted provided that
The Swedish Club is credited as the source.
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www.swedishclub.com
T H E S W E D I S H C LU B T R I TO N 1 - 2 0 1 1
Leader | MD Lars Rhodin
On Solid Ground!
PHoto: Jonas Ahlsén
Dear members and associates,
2010 was a year both of anniversary celebrations and
of change for the Club. Great anniversaries, as we
have a rich history to celebrate – 100 years of P&I, and
30 years of our office in Greece. Those occasions
represent important milestones in our 139-year
journey. Change, because we adapt and move in
tandem with the changes taking place in shipping,
insurance and the regulatory environment. Obviously,
successful companies do not merely keep abreast
of development – they foresee changes down the
line. We take our core value “proactive” to heart and
endeavour to do our best to stay ahead of the game.
For members, the most important aspect is to have
a club ready to act – to respond to casualties and
other urgent insurance needs. Last year we
experienced a rather benign claims distribution, but
nevertheless we had our fair share of casualties during
certain periods. A casualty seldom comes alone!
Some had the real potential to develop adversely, to
say the least. Fortunately, events turned our way and
that of the shipowners, even though the exposure
was challenging. Insurance means being prepared for
the unknown, hence the importance of having a club
ready to respond.
In early December we passed 30 million GT of
owner’s P&I entered with the Club. Whilst volume
in isolation is not a target, we see this as a token of
confidence. The Club is its members. It starts with
quality. When that is in place, results will be generated
from which growth will follow. The Club had a net
combined ratio of 87% in 2010, adding a significant
surplus from the insurance operation to the total
result of USD 29.5 million.
Team Oslo Energy is now up and running, and we
have established an office in central Oslo in the
Tjuvholmen district, next to Aker Brygge. Reinsurance
has been fitted into our consolidated programme
structure, and, as of 20 February 2011, we got the
“pen”. We see synergies with our existing business by
Lars Rhodin
Managing Director
this diversification and, in addition, it fits in well in the
revised risk management plan. The market response
has been positive within the broking community as
well as among owners. The Club stands for strong
values; there is reliance on the Club’s following
through on long-term strategy.
The European Commission’s investigation into the
International Group continues. Claims-sharing and
the joint reinsurance arrangement are under scrutiny
and so is the mechanism for release calls. The current
system is not perfect – no system is! The fact remains
that it provides for unparalleled cost benefits to the
consumers, i.e. the shipowners, at the same time as
third parties and society at large stand to be the real
beneficiaries. There may be behaviour within clubs
that needs to be improved. I am rather sure that
there will be some positive contributions emerging
from this probe, but there are some fundamentals at
play. So, please raise your voice in support through
your respective channels! We shall do our part in
safeguarding the benefits derived from the system.
Yours sincerely,
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P&I | Post-casualty Towage
P&I coverage during post
In the ordinary and customary
course of any merchant vessel’s trading,
vessels proceed in and out of ports and to
and from berths to load and or discharge
cargo. This is all in the natural pattern
of ships movements. Liability relating to
towage which forms part of the ordinary
and customary course of trading is, for that
reason, covered by P&I clubs.
However, towage is in many cases more
related to a casualty, or post-casualty, towage, usually following engine breakdown
or damage to the rudder or propeller rendering the vessel immobile; the vessel is
thus in need of assistance to be removed to
a repair facility. Towage that does not form
part of the vessel’s ordinary and customary trading is excluded from cover - unless
the contract for such towage has been preapproved by the Club.
Legal considerations for tug and tow
post-casualty
It is not uncommon that the post-casualty
towage has been preceded by a salvage
situation and that the vessel is subsequently at a “place of safety” – i.e. the legal geographical place where the salvage normally
ends. The problem this presents for an
underwriter is that a “place of safety” is
not necessarily a place where there are any
competent repair facilities. Furthermore,
the legal requirement for the salvage to be
considered successful is not only that the
vessel is brought to the “place of safety”,
but she needs also to be “safely afloat”
there. All quite reasonable and logical. But
for the underwriter this is no consolation.
Because, whilst the vessel is “safely afloat”
in a “place of safety”, she is not necessarily
safe for onward towage to another destination (a repair facility).
In relation to third parties, it might be
worth keeping in mind that legally the tug
and tow are considered as one unit. The
“dominant mind” of that unit is presumed
to be the tug, unless there is evidence to
the contrary, although there is no automatic presumption of fault on the part of
the tug. The burden of proof lies with the
party asserting liability on the tug. But,
in the absence of any other reasonable explanation, the inference is that the tug is
4
Tony Schröder
Area Manager
Team Göteborg I
considered liable - res ipsa loquitur, i.e. “the
thing speaks for itself ”.
Cargo onboard - the Himalaya Clause
The member must ensure that the Contract of Affreightment (COA) contains an
adequate Himalaya Clause. The Himalaya
Clause ensures that the member’s right of
limitation and contractual defences also
apply in favour of the tug owner. The purpose of the Himalaya Clause is a contractual provision expressed to be for the
benefit of a third party who is not a party
to the COA. If there is no Himalaya
Clause, third parties may go against the
tug in tort; which in its turn can turn to
the tow (the vessel) under the COA. For
example, a cargo owner may try to circumvent the carrier’s contractual defences
under the Hague or Hague-Visby rules by
bringing a tort claim against the tug. For
this reason, it is also advisable to have an
Indemnity Clause in the COA. The purpose of this clause is that the cargo owner
must indemnify the carrier for liabilities
that exceed those available under the
COA, i.e. if the carrier has had to indemnify the tug under the towage contract for
a claim brought by cargo interests.
Marine cover
The underlying rationale to proceed with
post-casualty towage for the marine underwriter is that there is at least enough residual value in the vessel to justify the cost
of towing (and repairing) – otherwise the
vessel is usually considered a CTL (Constructive Total Loss) or wreck.
Owners are responsible for fixing the
towage contract, but The Swedish Club, in
the position as marine underwriter, will
assist the member in selecting an acceptable
and competent towage operator from quotations received. The Club will, in addition,
assist the member in approving the towage
contract – but it is always the member who
is the contractual party – not the Club.
Under Norwegian Hull Conditions, the
cost of removal of the vessel, meaning the
towage, is covered, as are costs relating to
the preparation of the tow. Importantly, if
additional insurance needs to be taken out
by the member, such as Shipowners’ Liability Insurance, that premium will be regarded as removal expenditure and is covered.
Towage Certificate of Approval
Unless the towage is of a very limited
character, a Certificate of Approval must be
obtained following inspection of the
towing tug and all towing equipment as
well as the vessel to be towed. The Certificate of Approval should be issued by a preapproved organisation by the Club. The
organisation chosen should be consulted
before any tug is contractually committed,
in order to safeguard that inter alia minimum bollard pull, towing gear, passage plan
and other performance records are met.
Greatest exposure lies with P&I
Marine underwriters assist the owners in
making tow arrangements, as has been
described above, and indemnifies for the
costs of the towage. However, the greater
exposure lies with the P&I club, with risks
like pollution, environmental damage,
collision and or contact with third party
property, cargo loss or damage, wreck removal and personal injury or death claims.
These risks are exacerbated compared to
an ordinary shipping operation, by the fact
that you have two vessels in close proximity to one another.
If the tow commences without written
approval of the Club, the member risks
prejudicing their P&I cover; however,
claims which arise in any event under the
standard P&I rules are still covered.
Bear in mind that contractual towage
liabilities are only covered by the P&I club
to the extent that those liabilities and costs
fall within any P&I rule; otherwise they
are excluded.
Historical view
Towage contracts actually have a place in
P&I history and development. In a case
-casualty towage
PHoto: iStockphoto
from 1936 called Furness, Withy & Co.,
Ltd. v. Duder, (1936) 55 Ll. Rep. 52 there
was a dispute whether a hull policy covered
the vessel’s (the tow’s) liability to tug under
the towage contract or not. There was no
dispute that the tug was fully to blame for
the collision between the tug and the tow
(the vessel) in tort – but under the towage
contract the tow (the vessel) was liable to
pay for the damage, although the collision
was solely due to the negligence of the tug.
Underwriters successfully denied liability
under the insurance policy on the grounds
that the tow’s/vessel’s liability to pay arose
not as a consequence of the collision, but
by virtue of the terms of the contract, and
that the sum was not paid by way of
damages for a tortious act. In summary,
hull did not cover this, and at that time
this was an excluded liability under the
P&I rules. It was subsequently decided
that the P&I rules should be extended also
to cover liabilities arising from (towage)
contracts.
Shipowners’ Liability Cover?
What happens if the towage is considered
too risky for the P&I club to approve the
towage? As a mutual, the Club owes an
obligation to the collective membership to
determine where the tow is too hazardous
to be a mutual risk. If this is the case, the
member should purchase a Shipowners’
Liability Cover. This in effect buys back
standard P&I cover from the insurance
market. The Swedish Club can and will
assist their members with this ancillary
cover. The limit is flexible but is normally
around USD 10-50 million, and premiums
are negotiated on a case-by-case basis. The
costs of the insurance may be recoverable
from the marine underwriter (see above) or
it may form part of expenditure in a General Average, if any.
Towage contracts – synopsis
Remember that any new contract means a
new contract-based risk. From a P&I perspective, the member must, as mentioned
earlier, seek the Club’s written approval to
ensure that he enjoys undisturbed and full
P&I cover.
There is of course a wide variety of towage contracts around, but there are only
a few that would be acceptable to a P&I
club. For ocean towage, only towage contracts based on the knock-for-knock
liability regime would be approved by the
Club. For ocean towage the Club would
not normally approve the UK, Netherlands or Scandinavian towage conditions,
as they attempt to place all liability on the
tow. For an ocean towage, the risks are
just considered too high with these types
of exculpatory and burdensome contracts.
Typical standard contracts that would be
approved, if unaltered, would be Bimco’s
Towcon and Towhire contracts. The caveat
here is, of course, that, if there are any special terms added or any amendments made
to the standard wording, such as partial
or complete deletion of original clauses or
insertion of new clauses, which will affect
the traditional liability system, this means
that the contract needs to be reviewed by
the Club before approval. If a party does
not wish to be bound by specific terms,
then they need to make this very clear to
their contracting counterparty. Otherwise
there is a risk that the party will be bound
by the terms as is.
Full service
As a full service and all-in-one marine
insurance provider, The Swedish Club is
especially well geared to assist and guide
members with all aspects of salvage and
post-casualty situations. We can and will
assist members with hands-on and legal
advice as well as assistance to resolve any
post-casualty towage situation as effectively
as possible.
5
P&I | Drug Trafficking
José E. Cruz
Director, Maritime Claims-Americas
New Orleans, US
Since 2003 José E. Cruz has been a Director at
Maritime Claims-Americas, Inc. (MCA) a USA
bonded corporation that provides claims handing for several P&I clubs in Latin American Ports.
Mr Cruz was Consul General of Ecuador and
Dean of the New Orleans Consular Corps from
1999 to 2003, a seasoned bilingual business
person, born in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
The comings and goings
of illegal drugs and chemi
”…particularly in the last few
months, events have been
developing in Latin America
that require proactive attention
on the part of those involved in
the shipping industry.”
The illegal trade in drugs and chemical precursors as well
as the production, distribution, use and money laundering are
present in one form or another in every country in the world. However, Latin America and particularly South America is a high-risk
zone both because of its enormous production and proximity to
the largest consumers. The traffic in illegal drugs is headline news,
but we should also be watchful of the precursor agents for the production of drugs.
In recent years, and particularly in the last few months, events
have been developing in Latin America that require proactive
attention on the part of those involved in the shipping industry.
Under the banner of better control, Latin American countries,
particularly Venezuela and Ecuador, have been introducing new
regulations that place the burden of proof on the accused. While
there are measures that might help in providing proof of lack of
intent by members, the best measure is prevention.
Prevention through awareness
This article intends to encourage awareness and to identify some of
the latent threats in the maritime industry so that preventive measures can be taken as regards the vessel, crew and cargo handling.
Prevention is crucial since once an illicit substance is discovered
dire consequences can arise.
6
PHoto: iStockphoto
cal precursors
Largest producers
COLOMBIA: “... illicit producer of coca, opium poppy, and cannabis; world’s leading coca cultivator…167,000 hectares in coca
cultivation.”
PERU: “world’s second largest producer of coca leaf ... 36,000 hectares ... second largest producer of cocaine, estimated at 210 metric tons of potential pure cocaine ... finished cocaine is shipped
out from the Pacific ... increasing amounts ..., are being moved
to Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia for use in the Southern
Cone or transhipment to Europe and Africa”.
BOLIVIA: “world’s third-largest cultivator of coca ... 29,500
hectares under cultivation ... third largest producer of cocaine,
estimated at 120 metric tons potential pure cocaine ... transit
country for Peruvian and Colombian cocaine destined for US,
Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Europe”.1
While we have singled out the main producers, most other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are involved in this illegal trade whether in production, transport, transhipment or money
laundering.
Main consumers
The United States of America, Brazil and Europe are respectively
the largest, second and third largest consumers of cocaine. Each
European country has its own pattern of consumption, but there,
the use of synthetic drugs is on the rise.
The comings: illegal precursors and synthetic drugs
Precursor chemicals are produced and shipped from first world
and developed countries. USA, Chile, Argentina, Europe and Asia
are generally the source of precursor chemicals for South American cocaine. In addition, a growing trend in the use of synthetic
drugs is creating a market for the sale and shipment of medicines
and chemicals that will certainly continue to surface in the future.
Noteworthy is the alarming increase in Germany’s and Great Britain’s production and use of synthetic drugs.
The goings: a USD 400 billion business
In order to realize how large this trade is, we refer to the following quotation from a United Nations Publication:
“With estimates of $100 billion to $110 billion for heroin,
$110 billion to $130 billion for cocaine, $75 billion for cannabis
and $60 billion for synthetic drugs, the probable global figure for
the total illicit drug industry would be approximately $360 billion. Given the conservative bias in some of the estimates for
1Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook).
9
continues on page 8
7
P&I | Drug Trafficking
9
continued from page 7
individual substances, a turnover of around $400 billion per annum is considered realistic.” 2
been hollowed-out and filled with cocaine, and over a thousand
pounds of the drug was discovered and destroyed.”
Cargo: be knowledgeable about the substances being
shipped
Sadly, the list of drugs, plants and chemicals which are used as
illegal “recreational substances” is very large; and many medicines
are used and abused for this purpose.
Traffickers will sometimes use legitimate shippers to hide
drugs, camouflaging drugs in bananas, furniture,
canned goods or by misrepresenting cargo. Detailed knowledge of the chemicals and drugs that
present risks is good preventive medicine. Useful
information and details are available from the
Controlled Substances Act of The US Food and
Drug Administration, on their website. 3
Crew: prevention and education
Drug lords and traffickers will use all means, even live or dead
bodies, for the trade and transport; they are a constant threat,
ever on the lookout for opportunities; with such high rewards,
corruption is possible. Crew, officers and staff must be drug-free.
Preventive measures that include drug-detecting PEME-tactics
should be used to prevent problems among current
and particularly from new staff. When possible,
periodic drug testing systems should be applied
by independent and expert institutions. Drug
users are a primary target of traffickers who entice
or blackmail them into the trade. Drugs don’t get
on board by themselves; someone has to put them
there! Crew on board and staff ashore should be
well educated and briefed on this subject, so that
they may help to detect, identify and prevent
contamination with unending vigilance. Remind them that they
also are at risk.
”Drugs don’t
get on board
by themselves;
someone has to
put them there!”
Vessel security
With so much to gain, traffickers may attempt to
use the vessel or hull to camouflage drugs in secret compartments,
even using divers while in port, to attach to the hull or inside the
rudder space. Vigilance, security and crew participation are crucial for detecting and denouncing suspicious illegal activities. Be
cautious of local national guards at the port, as corruption can be
part of the problem.
Recent developments in South America
As mentioned before, the illegal trade in narcotics and its context is present in all countries; however, manipulation of the judicial system by the governments of Venezuela and Ecuador has
deteriorated expectancy of justice. Due process or as in Spanish,
“debido proceso”, does not exist and is not even understood in
Venezuela or Ecuador, at least not as we would understand it; as
proved by recent events in Quito in what was termed a “coup”.
Corruption makes matters worse. Quoted from “El Comercio de
Quito” 2/12/2011, (Free translation) “One out of four Ecuadorians paid some sort of bribe to the Courts last year” is the conclusion reached by the Vanderbilt University (USA) study “Latin
American Public Opinion Project”. Venezuela is ranked 164th out
of 178 countries, Ecuador 127th in the “Corruption Perception
Index of Transparency International”, tabulated on the perception of corruption in the public sector by the Berlin-based group.
Once one is detained, freedom can be difficult, tricky, expensive
and lengthy.
Chile is the most judicially transparent country in Latin
America, ranking 21/178; nevertheless, drugs related maritime
incidents can be costly and long drawn out. Here is a brief
from Mr Patricio Valenzuela, MCA Correspondent in Chile:
“Although Chile is at the extreme southwest of South America,
traffickers from the north also try to use our country to ship
drugs to Europe, the USA and Africa. Recently, in late 2010,
the authorities in Chile were able to discover a new method used
for hiding this cargo. With the intention of shipping through a
port in Chile, in a container that had been loaded with wood in
Santa Cruz, Bolivia, a mobile X-Ray inspection by authorities
was able to detect a different density in the logs. The logs had
Once an incident occurs, experience and know-how must
be applied
Every member should have a protocol for the captain and crew
to follow. The local correspondent should vet these protocols and
must have one for the local actions that need to be implemented,
as these will prove to be crucial to the outcome. The press historically has been incendiary and has prejudged circumstances;
therefore, the protocol should include prudent management of
news. The correspondent must have pre-established plans, using
expertise, transparency and experience combined with an urgent
response. Only expediency may help to diminish the incident.
The following are the core of a protocol for such incidents
1. 24/7 presence at portside by the correspondent’s agents to
generate actions immediately upon detection
2. Protocol by the correspondent to advise captain and crew as pertaining to local laws and expectations
3. Emergency notification to member and club
4. Application of emergency protocol by local correspondent
Conclusion
In conclusion, prevention through education, awareness and
preparedness remaining always attentive to suspicious acts,
conduct and cargo is the best remedy, since benefits from this
illegal trade will always be a hazard to maritime transportation.
Quoting an Ecuadorian banana exporter, Mr Juan Jose Pons, who
deals permanently with preventive measures: “Traffickers will
find a way of trafficking while there is a market; that is the great
tragedy”. So, be alert and prepared.
Disclaimer: Any views or opinion presented in this article are
solely those of the author and should not in any way be considered a legal opinion.
2Report of the International Narcotics Control Board 2007 (http://www.incb.org/incb/annual-report-2007.html)
8
3http://www.fda.gov/RegulatoryInformation/Legislation/ucm148726.htm
Marketing & Business Development | State of the Market
A business built to last
The Swedish Club has a very proud and long history – it
dates back to 1872 when a group of steamship owners decided to
get together to form a mutual association in order to gain access to
comprehensive and cost-effective insurance coverage. Today, 139
years later, much of the world and the daily realities in shipping
and in insurance look very different. During the course of our history we have experienced two world wars, a number of recessions
and tense political situations or conflicts that have affected the
world in general and shipping and insurance in specific. Lots of
things have changed no doubt, but the soul of the Club and our
basic mission are still there to de delivered and fulfilled. The principle of mutuality remains strong and is still our guiding star when
we act and express ourselves externally as well as internally. As a
matter of fact, mutuality and the way the Club has interpreted its
meaning over all these years has probably been the most important
individual factor for the Club’s development, survival, progress,
where we are today and where we will be in the future.
Continuing on a steady course
Today your Club is stronger financially than ever, and at the same
time our portfolio is bigger than ever when it comes to P&I. Last
year was yet another year of delivery from the Club in which we
once again managed to demonstrate that our focus on high quality tonnage and owners coupled with a transparent and disciplined
underwriting approach is a good recipe for sustainable results. You
will see from our annual report that 2010 evidenced satisfactory
performance in all lines of insurance and an encouraging result
from our financial portfolio. As a member of the Club this should
be reassuring for you, and as a member to be, it should be tempting and attractive to become a member in such a strong and robust
Club.
An increased drive for diversification
In the last couple of years our Business Development Group have
been busy both in looking at new areas of business as well as analysing and drawing conclusions from the current portfolio. This
has resulted in some considerable changes for the Club and our
portfolio. During the past year we have focused on and managed to
further diversify our marine portfolio by writing more Increased
Value, War and Loss of Hire. As from 20 February this year we
have entered the property insurance market for Mobile Offshore
Units and FPSO’s and have begun writing a new class of insurance. So far, we are pleased with the developments and the warm
welcome we have received from both the broking community and
owners. The timing of this new venture has been good, and our
long-term commitment to this interesting segment we understand
has been much appreciated.
Significant P&I growth
In previous articles I have written about the positive development
that we have enjoyed in the last couple of years when it comes to
the P&I side of our business. Having just finished the 2011/2012
renewal, it is very pleasing to be able to report that the renewal
Henric Gard
Director,
Marketing & Business Development
”You will see from our annual report
that 2010 evidenced satisfactory
performance in all lines of insurance
and an encouraging result from our
financial portfolio.”
went well and that we can continue to envisage good progress
in this core line of business. During 2010 we have also had the
pleasure to welcome several new members to our Club. This has
inspired us to continue our efforts to develop the Club with
additional high quality tonnage and owners, but – as before –
volume can never prevail sustainability and quality.
Marine – leading rather than following
The marine market continues to be challenging, although the
2010 marine result was very encouraging. Our offer to the marine
market is unique and our main task is to explain that fact to
brokers and owners in order for us not to be compared incorrectly
with very different business models and different service concepts.
The Swedish Club is and has always been a lead market with a
service concept, reach and capability second to none. Comparing
our offering to pure capacity providers is comparing apples to
pears, and we will have to make sure that this major difference is
understood and hopefully also appreciated. At the end of the day,
the true value of any insurance policy is tested when the policy
holder is asking the leader to fulfil his promise. By having The
Swedish Club in the lead position, brokers and owners should feel
that they are in the very best of hands – that is our marine mission!
Strong and resistant
As you might have noticed, the theme in our last two annual
reports has been different local fortresses, located on the Swedish
West Coast. Yet another fortress will be the theme for our 2010
annual report, which will be available in May. Why is that so?
A fortress is in our way of thinking a symbol of stability, strength
and protection in testing times and in rough weather. It is simply
something that is built to last, and so is The Swedish Club.
Thank you for your continued support and rest assured –“we are
with you all the time and all the way”.
9
PHoto: Scanpix/AP Photo/Pat Roque
Fire | Ship Fire and Explosion Investigation
To allocate respo
Neil Sanders
Partner
Burgoynes, London
Neil Sanders is a partner with Burgoynes,
which investigates incidents for insurers, ship
owners, company owners and others and is
particularly well known for investigating ship
fires and explosions. Neil trained as a chemical engineer and spent 8 years in industry
before joining Burgoynes in London in 1997.
He spent 3 years in Burgoynes’ Singapore office and is now back in London, where much
of his work involves investigating fires and
explosions on ships and on land.
10
”Common causes of
ship fires include hot
work, fuel oil leaks
and smoking as well
as causes associated
with cargo such as
self-heating.”
Ship fires and explosions are not
common, but can be expensive and disruptive. Investigating them allows us to find
the cause and consider related issues such
as how the fire spread. This may help when
considering claims from other parties; possible recovery of costs against other parties;
whether insurance conditions have been
complied with; and the value of salvage
work. Knowing the cause may also help
prevent further incidents or identify criminal acts.
Overall investigation approach
The same general approach applies to all investigations, although familiarity with the
type of ship, equipment or cargo involved
Philippine passenger
ferry "Super Ferry 14" on
fire southwest of Manila,
February 2004.
nsibilities and reduce risk
can help. Evidence should be gathered
systematically and considered objectively,
without focusing too early on one particular aspect or item. Theories and scenarios
must be thought through, tested against
the evidence, and modified or discarded as
further evidence is obtained. By the end of
this process the cause (or range of possible
causes) that fits all the evidence should become clear.
Physical evidence
Fire and explosion scenes on ships can
vary from a single cabin, or one engine,
to whole holds or even an entire ship. We
usually start from the outside and work
in, initially without disturbing anything,
until it is possible to focus on one area of
interest. In the case of widespread damage
it is often necessary to use other sources,
such as witnesses, to indicate where the
fire started. It may then be necessary to
excavate fire debris, or partially empty a
hold, or dismantle machinery to find the
cause.
Fires and explosions often destroy evidence, which can make an investigation
more difficult. It is important to look at
surrounding areas, even beyond the damage. For example a pump and pipe system
might have caused a problem at the far end
of the pipe, well away from the pump.
Another example is a large cruise liner
fire in which hundreds of cabins on several
decks were burned out. They all looked
similar, with hardly anything left inside,
but witnesses could identify the cabin
where the fire was first seen. A look outside
the surrounding bulkheads around the
cabin revealed evidence of welding work
that ignited materials inside the cabin.
A further example is a small chemical
tanker in which explosions spread to destroy most of the cargo area. Even though
most of the bulkheads between tanks had
been displaced, careful examination of
the direction in which each bulkhead had
been torn away from the shell indicated the
tank in which the explosion started.
9
continues on page 12
11
Fire | Ship Fire and Explosion Investigation
To allocate…
9
continues from page 11
Electrical evidence, such as the location of arcing damage on
cables, may help to indicate where a fire started.
All investigations may end up in Court, so it is important to take
photographs and make notes that can be used later to demonstrate
the evidence found, particularly once the investigation moves on to
excavation or dismantling which cannot be reversed.
Witnesses and other evidence
Witnesses can often be helpful, for example indicating where a fire
was first seen or providing information about the events leading up
to the fire or explosion, such as what equipment was in use, what
work was being done, or what problems had been encountered.
However witnesses are not always reliable, either because they do
not remember correctly or because they would rather not admit
something. For example smokers may be unwilling to admit smoking after a fire has occurred.
Press reports sometimes appear soon after the incident. They
should be considered but are not always correct. In a recent incident of hull damage to a large tanker the early press reports, some
originating from the local authorities, mentioned freak waves and
hitting rocks as well as explosions (terrorist and otherwise).
Inspection showed that a terrorist incident was to blame.
Memory data logs from control or detection systems can assist.
For example, in car carriers each deck may have many ‘addressable’
smoke detectors. In a fire that spreads widely, the origin may not be
clear from the physical evidence but the location and order of operation of the smoke detectors may indicate where it started.
Detailed investigation
Once the origin of a fire or explosion has been identified, detailed
investigation work on items or equipment in that area may be
needed.
For example, where a fuel oil leak at an engine has led to a fire,
parts of the engine may be dismantled to find the leak and metallurgical work may be required to determine the basic cause of failure. Other factors may need to be considered such as whether parts
of the engine were shielded and insulated according to SOLAS
(International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea) regulations.
Cargo fires may require testing to determine, for example,
whether the cargo self-heats or how it reacts with contaminants.
Ship’s fire fighting systems
It is usual to inspect the ship’s fire fighting systems including fire
detection; suppression such as CO2; fire pumps; emergency generators; ventilation dampers; compartment doors and remote shut-off
valves for fuel systems. Some of these items may not have operated
properly, and the time taken to operate systems such as CO2 suppression may need to be considered. In the case of a failure or delay
it may be necessary to consider what difference it made to the severity of the fire.
12
Common causes of ship fires
The following is not a complete list, but it is intended to illustrate
the common causes of ship fires we encounter.
Accommodation
We still come across fires caused by smoking. Cooking
fires are another common cause, as are fires caused by hot
work such as welding or flame cutting. Deliberate fires
have occurred in ships’ accommodation, which may be
indicated by lack of alternative causes or by a previous history of unexplained small fires. Electrical appliances or
installations can also cause fires.
Engine Room
Fuel oil leaks, often being ignited on hot exhausts, are still
a relatively common cause, although the SOLAS regulations aim to avoid this. Fires caused by hot work, electrical
faults and deliberate ignition all occur in engine rooms.
Cargo
Smoking remains a relatively common cause of cargo
fires. Electrical installations occasionally cause cargo
fires, for example cargo lights left ‘on’ and buried in bulk
cargo. Vehicles have also caused fires in car carriers and in
other types of ship where they are carried as cargo on the
return voyage. Self-heating is relatively common and can
occur in container cargos (such as calcium hypochlorite or
charcoal) or in bulk (such as coal or edible oil extraction
residues). In recent years the shipping of rechargeable
batteries has increased and some cargo fires are
attributable to them. Cargos with flammable vapour, in
tankers or otherwise, present an obvious risk of explosion
and fire. Ignition sources for flammable vapour include
static electricity discharge; friction in pumps etc; electrical
equipment; hot work and even thermite sparks due to
impact between aluminium and rusty steel.
Summary
Ship fire and explosion investigation should be approached in a systematic way, with a continual evaluation of evidence and testing of
theories developed. As well as physical evidence, information such
as witness evidence and data logs is often important. Common
causes of ship fires include hot work, fuel oil leaks and smoking
as well as causes associated with cargo such as self-heating. Proper
investigation of incidents, with the Court process in mind, should
help to identify where particular parties are responsible, as well as
to enable owners, shippers and insurers to reduce risk.
PHoto: morgueFile/Stefan Eliasson
Underwriting | Renewals Marine/P&I
All vows renewed!
This year once again our members showed their appreciation
of the high quality level of service being delivered. We are, needLars A. Malm
less to say, extremely grateful for the renewed vote of confidence
Director, Risk & Operations
which the renewal is actually all about. We do take pride in being highly sophisticated in terms of our technical underwriting
Unlike a regular marriage, the vows of P&I, FD&D
skills and our ability to responsibly rate risks over a horizon and
and Marine insurance policies are renewed annually. Maybe it
to manage the inherent cycles in the industry. As to the latter
wouldn’t be entirely wrong to have the same tradition in place for
part, this is the most important task for us right now and going
all kind of relationships?
forward. It is of particular importance to stand our ground when
Using the analogy of a marriage to describe a contract of insubeing compared to the influx of capacity to the Marine insurance
rance may to some people seem a bit odd. When you think of it
market, which has little or no ability to lead business.
though, there are several common denominators. At the end of the
If we turn to the P&I and FD&D renewal, the Club managed
day it all comes down to each party’s promise to deliver and how
well and in line with our targets. The gross premium on renewed
that delivery is perceived:
owners’ tonnage was amended upwards by some 3%, which was
slightly better than target. Volumewise, we met our
target and it is again pleasing to see that there is a
 “to have and to hold from this day forward”
substantial addition committed for the 2011/2012
(the agreed policy period)
period.
As for the 1 January Marine renewal, it progressed
 “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer,”
according
to plan. Volumewise, we managed slightly
(handling and settling claims – paying premiums)
better than forecast and as to rating we follow a long “in sickness and in health,”
term view which provides members with continuity
(supplementary calls – return of premiums/deferred calls)
and predictability going forward. We are committed
to not repeating any historic mistakes in relation to
 “to love and to cherish,”
less fortunate cycle management.
(issuing securities and giving benefit of doubt – organic growth)
Being a member of The Swedish Club is obviously
 “till death do us part,”
not a commitment for life, but we do walk the extra
(total loss)
mile in order to maintain relations for as long as possible. Handling claims in a professional and timely
 “according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.”
manner is what counts in the eyes of our members
(Articles of the Association, current Rules and Circulars)
and business partners. The true test is; whether members and business partners feel that the product deIf delivery in a relationship is not on a par with expectation
livered reflects the rate charged. We take pride in never parting
– then the viability of the relationship is questionable.
ways because of poor performance.
13
Piracy | Somali Piracy Today
Owners have to reconsider
their measures
against Somali piracy!
During and prior to 2008 Somali piracy was limited to the
area of the Gulf of Aden. Somali piracy events that captured the
attention of the general public that year included the hijacks of
MV BBC Trinidad, MV Amiya Scan and SY Ponant. It was very
clear from those early 2008 incidents, and has been confirmed
by every incident since then, that Somali piracy is nothing more
than maritime kidnap for ransom of the ship and crew. Ransom
negotiations took place in order to release the crew and ship for an
agreed sum of money.
This remains the pirate’s business model today. The pirates offer
the captured ship and crew to the only interest in the world who
will pay good money for them – the owners. The negotiation takes
the form of an aggressive business negotiation, albeit usually with
life-threatening threats and menaces from the pirates.
Anti-piracy forces deployed to the Gulf of Aden
Since 8 December 2008, the international community has deployed anti-piracy forces to the Gulf of Aden, with usually more
than 30 warships deployed on anti-piracy patrols at any time. The
Somali pirates reacted by extending their operational ’hunting’
grounds to the Somali Basin and beyond. The pirates’ tactics continue to evolve and adapt, and ships are now under threat from the
Red Sea in the north to the Mozambique Channel in the South
and as far east as the coast of India.
2009 marked a change in Somali piracy
The case of MV Hansa Stavanger in the spring and summer of
2009 marked a change in Somali piracy. The vessel was captured
in the Somali Basin. By that time more Somali clans had become
involved in piracy; which was as early as 2009 a business worth
hundreds of millions of US dollars in ransoms paid. Also during
the case of the Hansa Stavanger the German public, and to a lesser
degree the West European shipping community, became aware of
the pirates’ pressure tactics against the owners. These included the
use of torture against the crew, mock-executions, maltreatment and
solitary confinement of individual crew members amongst other
cruelties.
Another phenomenon to be observed on the Hansa Stavanger
was that the ransom negotiations were remarkably prolonged by
the pirates for the sake of a few hundred thousand dollars more.
14
Thomas Nintemann
Head of Legal & Insurance Dep
Intership Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH
Haren, Germany
The pirates have the time, the owners the money. Too hasty agreement by owners to pay all or most of what the pirates demand does
not result in early release. Quite the contrary – too much offered
too early by owners may actually extend the hijack; as happened in
this case.
Piracy demands are escalating
By spring 2010 it became crystal clear that the trend of long negotiations for larger amounts of money that had started in 2009 was
confirmed. The captures took longer, and the ransoms paid by the
responsible owner got higher. The average period a ship was held by
pirates was more than 120 days, and the average ransom paid for a
single vessel was in the region of USD 5 million, with one or two
in individual cases in the area of USD 10 million. The pirate tactic
of ‘the long wait’ had arrived, with very high demands. The pirates’
aim was to extract as much money as possible from the owner in
each case.
Citadels not always an effective defence
In the meantime, many owners, following the ‘Best Management
Practice’ guides, established citadels on their vessels. Others put
armed and very expensive security guards on board during the vessel’s passage through the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin.
Whilst citadels have worked on many occasions in 2010, the fate
of the MV BBC Nomination showed that a citadel is not always an
effective defence. If the pirates have sufficient time to cut their way
into the citadel using oxyacetylene or mechanical cutters, they will
do so. The pirates have also used hostage crews from captured ships
already held as ‘human shields’ to deter interference from warships
while they cut their way into the citadels.
9
continues on page 16
PHotoS (montage): US Navy & iStockphoto
”pirates…!?”
”pir
a
te s
…!
?”
“It is a serious mistake by owners to underestimate
the ability of Somali pirates to adapt and improvise.
The situation is fluid with a constant evolution of
tactics by the pirates in reaction to defensive
measures by the shipping community. “
15
Piracy | Somali Piracy Today
Photo: US Navy photo
9
continued from page 14
The use of captured hostage ships as
‘mother ships’ has also extended the range
and duration of pirate hunting patrols. Nor
are the pirates any longer limited to operating only in the inter-monsoon periods.
It was also reported in January 2011 that
MV Leopard was captured by pirates near
Salalah AFTER she had dropped off her
armed guards. If owners do employ armed
guards, where do they embark and disembark? Assumptions about the limits of the
pirates’ range of operations are constantly
being challenged.
Ability to adapt and improvise
It is a serious mistake by owners to underestimate the ability of Somali pirates to
adapt and improvise. The situation is fluid,
with a constant evolution of tactics by the
pirates in reaction to defensive measures by
the shipping community.
The hijack of the MT Marida Maguerite
and crew in the latter half of 2010 showed
that Somali pirates, or at least some of
them, will not shrink from using the most
extreme violence against crew members.
Some individual crew members on some hijacked vessels have even declared solidarity
with the pirates in the hope of improving
their own situation.
Emotional and psycological burden
can be considerable
The pressures and tactics used by pirates
against owners and the mistreatment of
crew put great stress and strain on the
owners’ crisis management team during
negotiations. The team has to avoid overreacting and must stick to the selected
negotiation strategy. This is a lot to ask
and expect from an employee appointed by
his employer to be a member of his crisis
management team. The emotional and
psychological burden can be considerable.
The employer should ensure that crisis
team members are carefully selected
and trained IN ADVANCE. Or he
should engage external and experienced
professionals specialised in such negotiations. The problem with this last is that,
16
Suspected pirates in Gulf of Aden, February 2009.
with usually more than 30 ships held
by pirates at any one time, the supply of
experienced negotiation advisers is very
limited.
However, if a vessel is hijacked, this does
not mean that the crew will always be mistreated. Much depends on the pirates and
also on the manner in which the owners
conduct the negotiations. But cruel treatment and distressing pressures cannot be
excluded in advance. So the owners’ crisis
management team must be prepared by
prior training and briefing for such eventualities.
There is no offshore solution
Somali piracy is likely to remain a serious
problem for shipping for perhaps the next
decade. There is no ‘offshore’ solution.
If piracy is to be brought under control
it must happen as a result of treating the
causes, not the symptoms. That means a
solution on land under a stable and pacified Somalia following a strengthening of
civil society and law enforcement, particularly in Puntland.
Anti-piracy co-ordinator
Meanwhile, it is prudent of owners and
their responsible underwriters to appoint
an employee as the ‘lead’ or ‘anti-piracy
co-ordinator’ in each owner’s and underwriters’ group, as much for prevention of
piracy as for managing a hijack incident
should one occur. It is vital that during
negotiations owners and underwriters remain as professional and as focussed as the
Somali pirates. This can only be ensured
by the constant engagement of owners and
their underwriters on questions of Somali
piracy.
Owners must be prepared to deal
with the problem
Waiting for the international institutions
to effect a solution to Somali piracy in
Somalia is not an option for owners. This
may or may not come about. Shipping and
Somali piracy do not have such a huge
political impact on international affairs.
This might change if the rate of attrition
of ships by pirates increases beyond the
two captures in every thousand transits
that is the current average. But for now
owners and their underwriters must be
prepared to deal with the problem of
Somali piracy on their own and with very
little – if any – outside assistance.
Piracy
– A never
ending
story....?
All Piracy and Armed Robbery
incidents are reported to the IMB
(International Maritime Bureau)
Piracy Reporting Centre.
A daily update can be found on
http://www.icc-ccs.org
Published with courtesy of IMB
Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC).
17
n Case
r
o
C
a
b
o:
ot
PH
Mo
rg
i le
uef
The A
qa
Loss Prevention | Case Study P&I
CARGO CLAIMS
are a common aspect
of shipping, but sometimes
a shipowner is faced with an outof-the-ordinary cargo claim
involving an exaggerated request for security, almost temporarily
keeping the vessel hostage in a less than ideal place. This is a study
of one such claim and how the Club might assist in resolving the
migraine of a situation that may arise.
Background
In February 2008, some 17,500 mt of yellow corn in bulk, bound
for Aqaba in Jordan, was loaded onto m/v Silver Star at Kakinada,
India. The vessel was under a one trip time charter on the NYPE
(New York Produce Exchange) form. The loading was carried out
at the anchorage where cargo in bags was transferred from barges
to the ship’s holds. The bags were opened in the holds by the stevedore labourers stationed there and thereby turned into bulk corn
cargo.
The voyage was uneventful. However, shortly after the vessel’s
arrival at Aqaba, the local cargo receivers started complaining
about the cargo and refused to continue the discharge. Various
concerns were raised about the condition of the cargo, but the
main issue was that the cargo was allegedly contaminated by human excrement and that this might result in the rejection of the
entire cargo by the local health authorities. The contamination
existed throughout the cargo in all holds, and consisted not only of
18
A study
human excrement but also, for instance, of jute
bags, stones, plastic, rubber, threads and other
foreign matter.
Some more localised cargo was also
found either to be heat-damaged or to
have an increased moisture content and
in a state of caking.
The cargo claim
The cargo receivers lodged a claim
against our members, the vessel
owners, for about USD 1.3 million.
The majority of the claim referred to
the contamination of the cargo, but a
smaller part referred to localised heat or
mould damage to cargo in hold no 5 and
also to some caking damage to cargo in hold
no 1. The cargo receivers threatened to arrest
the vessel and demanded payment of their claim
in full and in cash. Only security by way of a bank
guarantee for close to USD 2 million was accepted
to allow the vessel to sail without any arrest or other
interference with the operation of the vessel. No discharging of
cargo was allowed in the meantime.
Appointment of experts
Given the complexity of this case, leading London cargo experts
were instructed at a very early stage, and one of their senior surveyors was dispatched to investigate the matter on site at Aqaba together with a local surveyor already attending. In addition, English
and Jordanian lawyers were put on stand-by so as to consider how
to best resolve the impasse and how to best protect our members’
position in respect of a future potential indemnity action against
charterers.
The cause of damage
The human excrement found throughout the cargo was caused by
the stevedores, who it transpired used the holds as a toilet during
the loading at Kakinada, India. At times there were no less than 50
stevedore labourers stationed in each hold.
The other foreign matter found throughout the cargo was in part
a result of the loading process (packing material) and in part commingled with the cargo before or during loading (stones, plastic,
paper, rubber etc.).
The other damage in respect of localised mould and caking
damage could either be traced back to heating of the vessel’s bun-
of a cargo claim
ker tanks during the voyage or to the fact that it appeared that some
rainwater had entered one hold in particular at Kakinada.
An early case assessment
It quite soon became apparent that not only were these cargo
receivers difficult but the local context was also problematic.
The position under local law for this claim was not helpful and,
furthermore, the entire cargo could potentially be rejected. In a
similar vein, the local courts would seize jurisdiction of any cargo
claim, despite any references to London arbitration and English law
under the bill of lading.
Against this backdrop, the Club and members considered how
best to resolve the situation. Following some further investigation
and consultation it became clear that a negotiated amicable
settlement should be explored now, whilst the vessel remained at
Aqaba, rather than trying our luck in the local courts and thereby
also having to provide for a USD 2 million bank guarantee which
might turn into a hostage of fortune; no other form of security was
accepted or recognised by the local courts.
Apart from the liability aspects, the loss of value to the cargo was
considered in some detail by the London cargo experts. This assisted in assessing the reasonable amount of any potential settlement.
There was also some detective work involved in seeking to quantify
how much loss was a result of each individual claim item. All these
exercises would also prove helpful in relation to any future indemnity claim against the charterers.
Settlement of the underlying cargo claim
Some eleven days after the vessel’s arrival at Aqaba, and after
some rather intensive negotiations, a full and final settlement was
reached with the cargo receivers at USD 440,000 (all inclusive).
The discharge was resumed at the receiver’s risk and the vessel sailed
shortly thereafter.
The charterers were kept informed and consulted from an early
stage but they, not entirely surprisingly, preferred to keep their
involvement in this matter at arm’s length, at least as long as they
could.
We now started looking to recoup some of the losses and we,
again, turned our attention to the charterers.
Indemnity claim against the charterers
The charter party incorporated the 1996 Inter-Club Agreement
(“ICA”) and any cargo claim as between the owners and the charterers should, therefore, be apportioned according to the mechanical formula set out therein. The purpose of this formula is to
Mats Segolson
Senior Claims Executive
Team Piraeus
provide for rough and ready justice with 0/100, 50/50 or 100/0
apportionments.
The charterers initially raised some issues in respect of the quality
specification of this cargo and argued that the bills of lading should
have been remarked in some fashion. For some time the charterers attempted to make the absence of any remarks in the carriage
documents into a silver bullet in the negotiations.
Despite the attempts from charterers to cloud this indemnity
claim, there was a silver lining and, on the facts of this case, their
bullet missed by some margin. After a perhaps rather protracted
approach by the charterers and their insurers, an amicable settlement was achieved whereby the majority of the underlying cargo
claim was ultimately indemnified by the charterers.
Summary and practical considerations
Cargo claims can sometimes be a serious headache. In some jurisdictions and circumstances, there may be little choice but to deal
with the claim head on and settle there and then rather than to
provide security and resort to the local courts. Potential subsequent
recovery actions, if any, should also be gauged.
They say prevention is better than cure and not infrequently
making suitable precautionary measures at the port of loading, and
making good use of surveyors, preferably in consultation with the
Club, may avoid much of the headache later. The following points
may otherwise provide some remedy.
 Consider appointing suitable experts early on to investigate and
preserve best possible evidence.
 Consider making a global assessment of the matter with the
Club early and how to best resolve it.
 In reaching an early potential settlement, if appropriate, consider preserving a good paper trail on the steps taken, should the
charterers, or whoever you are considering a recovery against,
seek to criticise the settlement or the reason for any of the steps
and decisions taken.
19
Loss Prevention | Case Study H&M/P&I
Demolishing an unused dolphin
An incident
to punish
or reward?
A ship will usually pay a claim whenever they damage an object, either
fixed or floating, during their navigation; the incident described below might possibly be an exception
to this.
One of our member’s ships arrived
at the outer anchorage of her discharge
port at Douala at 06.48 hours GMT on
10 October carrying about 21,000 mt
of cement clinker and on an even keel of
8.4m in fresh water. During the course of
the voyage the master had read the Sailing
Instructions and studied British Admiralty
Chart No. 1456, 3rd Edition, which had
been printed on 10 June 2010. He was
aware of the warning on the chart concerning navigation aids. It read as follows:
‘AIDS TO NAVIGATION’ – the aids
to navigation on the chart are reported to be
unreliable. They may be missing, or out of
position.
The master also noted that there was
a warning on the chart, under ‘Channel
Depths’, that there were places in the channel where the depths were no more than
6.1 meters above chart datum.
Later in the afternoon, the ship agent
called to tell the master that the pilot
would board the ship that evening, and
eventually the pilot boarded the ship off
buoy B23 at 19.00 after the pilots had instructed the master to weigh anchor and
proceed inwards.
20
Bruce Hung
Claims Manager
Team Asia
The pilot told the master that they were
to berth port side to No. 52 berth, and that
before reaching that point two tugs would
attend the ship to assist in the berthing.
These tugs came up with the ship at
19.45 hours. One stood off the starboard
bow, the other at the starboard quarter,
accompanying the ship, whose speed had
dropped to less than 5 knots. By the master’s estimate, buoy B40, which he confirmed was lit, was abeam to port at 19.59
at a distance of just under a cable.
At about this time, and while the ship
was turning gently to port, the pilot told
the master that there was an unlit, disused
dolphin in the river ahead and asked him
to tell the chief officer who was at the bow,
to look out and report whether he could
see it. This the master did, and he was told
by the chief officer that he was unable to
see it. The master examined the radar but
could see no echoes in the river ahead of
the ship. However, less than a minute later
the chief officer called again to say that he
could see what looked like a large piece of
wood floating on the surface just ahead of
the ship and almost immediately the star-
No sign of a dolphin after the contact.
board bow of the ship hit the dolphin. The
time was noted to be 20.01 hours.
The third officer fixed the ship’s position
and this is shown on the copy of the ship’s
chart as illustrated. It will be noted that
the dolphin lies practically in the middle of
the fairway.
From close examination of the chart it
can be seen that a ‘tanker berth’ is marked
in magenta and represented by three small
squares, in line, lying in a NNE direction
and placed on the eastern extremity of the
deep water channel – about 1.9 cables NE
of buoy B40. A cable north of the berth is
a black mooring buoy. It has further come
to light that the dolphins forming this
berth were severely damaged as a result of
a ship hitting it about ten years ago. It has
never been repaired and all the disused
dolphins, with the exception of one, have
subsequently subsided to the riverbed, pos-
Position where the collision
took place
at 20.01
hours.
sibly due to multiple contacts with other
ships in the past decade. It was this sole
surviving dolphin that the ship hit, and as
far as we know it has now fallen sunk to
the riverbed. The master told us that he did
not see the mooring buoy when passing the
spot to the berth, and it is assumed that it
has been removed by the port authority.
Security
The port authority detained the ship and
demanded a Letter of Undertaking to
cover their potential ‘repair’ cost totalling
EUR 3 million from the shipowners.
According to the investigation and
advice from the local correspondent/
agent, it is clear that this dolphin was
damaged some time ago, and that the port
authorities are well aware of this, and it
is general-ly agreed that their estimate
for repairs at EUR 3 million is totally
unreasonable. The local agent for the ship
has also indicated that the port authority
have confidentially advised that the matter
will go no further, because it is common
knowledge that the dolphin was already
almost totally destroyed. Indeed it will be
quite interesting to see how their claim
will be constituted, given that the original
jetty was nonexistent (and therefore had no value,
indeed was a liability); the port authorities
have suffered no loss.
Punish or reward?
After the event, we checked our records
and revealed that the ship that damaged
these tanker dolphins ten years ago was
entered with the Club (H&M), and the
owners had paid the port authority the
repair cost of these dolphins; obviously the
repair had not been done over the years.
In fact, as a result of levelling the remaining dolphin, it appears to us that the
ship has rendered a benefit to the port and
this should be fully appreciated by the
Harbour Master and his principals. Instead of making a claim, should they not
be rewarding the ship for her assistance
this time?
21
Loss Prevention | Safety
Six steps towards
improved safety
1.
A positive company culture
It is important to have a positive company
culture and a unified plan for how to promote and maintain safety. It is not enough
to have implemented a Safety Management
System (SMS) with a well-organised navigation policy. The policy needs to be constantly challenged, improved and reviewed.
The pursuit of improvement has to derive
from top management within the company.
Without guidelines from top management,
the benefits and importance of this policy
will just be something on paper.
If the SMS is followed correctly, most
accidents will be prevented. If an accident
occurs, either the procedures have been
ignored, the SMS did not identify the task,
or it was not specific enough.
So how can a hazard be identified? The
best defence will be to have trained and
competent employees who are dedicated
and who understand the importance of
safety. In order to be able to remedy the real
problem, the root cause has to be identified.
The Swedish Club has a liaison process
with the member that we call Interactive
Root Cause Analysis (IRCA), whereby
the Club will identify the root cause and
propose a suitable remedial measure. This
benefits both the member and the Club,
and the knowledge gained can be shared
with other members, thus preventing the
same root cause in the future. If two ships
collide, the immediate cause is that they
did not follow the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea 1972
(COLREGS). This root cause may vary
considerably. It might be that the company
did not verify that the OOW (Officer of
the Watch) was competent, or that the
OOW was using unfamiliar technology for
which he had not been properly trained, or
that the OOW was suffering from fatigue.
22
Joakim Enström
Loss Prevention Officer
”The Swedish Club has a
liaison process with the
member that we call
Interactive Root Cause
Analysis (IRCA), whereby
the Club will identify the
root cause and propose a
suitable remedial measure.”
2.
Belief in safety
How can we motivate people to understand that a safety system with an organised SMS will make life easier, safer and
even more efficient? On the vessel, the captain needs to be able to promote a safety
culture.
With the 2010 update to the ISM code,
it is now a requirement for companies to
have a system in which risk assessments
are completed. The difficult part is to
motivate the crew to actually follow the
work permit and risk assessment. A good
system should probably penalise people
who have not followed the system and
have broken regulations, but it should
not be a system in which people are not
allowed to make mistakes. We all make
The problem with safety is t
have been improved, but by then i
an area where it is problematic to m
and not only represents an econom
mistakes, and we should learn from them,
but making mistakes is very different
from not following the rules and defined
procedures; that is complacency and
ignorance and should never be accepted.
What can the company do to ensure
that their employees follow best practices
and policies? The answer might probably
relate to training. If the company is willing to invest money and time in their
crew, the result will most likely be that the
crew feel greater ownership in the company and the vessel.
It is very important for the company to
invest in an infrastructure that can deal
with these issues in a quick and efficient
manner without much effort. Such an investment emphasizes that it is even more
important to have software which is userfriendly, but still complex enough to deal
with many different issues.
3.
Safe manning
Another major problem onboard vessels is
fatigue, which is most common on smaller
vessels with few crew members. Minimum
safe manning might be sufficient for some
trades and areas, but it might not be
applicable in areas with dense traffic or
many port calls. Navigating a coastal vessel
in Europe with two watchkeeping officers
including the master might be acceptable
according to the safe manning certificate,
but the vessel’s trade might have changed
and the number of port calls might have
increased so that it is impossible for the
watchkeeping officers to get enough rest.
The MAIB (Marine Accident Investigation Branch) Bridge Watchkeeping Safety
Study report from 2004 identified that
most accidents around the UK occurred
when there was only one officer on the
bridge, and the major cause was fatigue.
that it is so difficult to measure. After a major accident it is easy to identify all the areas that should
it is of course too late. In these uncertain economic times it can be hard to motivate an investment in
measure improvement and identify cost until disaster strikes. The cost of a disaster is always substantial
mic loss but also a loss of prestige and goodwill. Prevention will be the best possible investment.
It was identified that such undermanning
is something that the IMO should try to
rectify through the STCW (Standards of
Training, Certification and Watchkeeping
for Seafarers) convention.
The recommendations made by MAIB
were proposed by the UK’s Maritime and
Coastguard Agency (MCA) to the IMO,
but unfortunately there were no changes to
the STCW code during the IMO Manila
conference on 25 June 2010, which ratified
the Manila amendments to the STCW
code. The amendments did not implement
any stricter regime for a vessel’s safe manning, in Resolution 6 it also reaffirms that
any decision relating to ships’ manning
levels is the responsibility of the administrations and shipowners concerned, taking
into account the principles of safe manning
adopted by the International Maritime
Organization.
This would have been an excellent opportunity to make the safe manning requirements stricter. Now it is still only
up to the professional company to ensure
that they have enough crew who are welltrained and competent.
4.
Crewing
Crewing today is probably the biggest
problem facing the maritime industry. It is
a well-known fact that there is a shortage
of experienced and proficient crew. How
this can be rectified is very hard to say.
There is not only a problem in crewing vessels, but also a problem in finding competent people for shore-based positions.
This shortage emphasizes even more
training within the company, as crew
members might be promoted more quickly
than before. It is a tough equation to solve
when there is a lot of new tonnage being
built and less competent people to choose
”Crewing today is
probably the biggest
problem facing
the maritime industry.”
from. The shipping industry needs to have
a long-term goal to solve this major issue
and shipping companies need to identify
how they can deal with this shortage and
still maintain a good service.
5.
Communication
One of the most critical operations on a
vessel is navigation. Implementing a welldefined navigation policy, with trained
crew who understand their tasks/duties,
might be one of the best investments ever.
If the crew is confident in themselves, their
equipment and their fellow crew members,
they will be well equipped to identify a
problem or risk when it occurs.
In order to have an organised and motivated bridge team, it is very important
that all team members have well-defined
duties. Every team member should know
what to expect from a colleague, and who
is responsible for what. This system usually
needs a minimum of two officers.
By what means should an efficient
bridge team be organised? First of all,
the company needs to have a specific
navigation policy where the duties of
all bridge team members are explained,
navigation requirements regarding , for
example, Closest Point of Approach
(CPA), cross track error, calling the
master, environmental policies, explaining
the capabilities and limits of equipment
and how it should be used, and much
more. It is imperative that the policy is
being followed. The policy should be
implemented by the captain and verified
during internal audits. It is easy to write a
navigation policy, but hard to implement
it. For the policy to work there needs to be
a belief on the part of shore management
that it is something that will benefit the
operation and increase safety onboard.
6.
Safety training
For the policy to work on the vessels, the
captains need to be trained through seminars and captains’ conferences so they understand the importance of the policy and
actually believe in it. If the policy is only
seen as another requirement from shoreside, it will fail. For success to be achieved,
it is essential that there is a good understanding and teamwork between shoreside
and onboard personnel.
If the company is able to implement a
system where communication is clear and
well-defined, it is likely that their actions
will prevent many mistakes and accidents.
To assist companies in implementing
an efficient and professional safety system,
The Swedish Club has a well-established
and approved training programme regarding safety for the entire crew and not
only bridge procedures. It is called MRM
(Maritime Resource Management), which
is a training programme that would benefit
any shipping company.
For further information about MRM, please
visit www.swedishclub.com/Academy
23
Legal | NTCC
Prof. Dr. M. Fehmi Ülgener
Lawyer
Ülgener Legal Consultants Law Office
Istanbul
Professor Ülgener is a part-time lecturer and Head of the Department of Maritime
and Insurance Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Istanbul. He is also the owner
of Ülgener Legal Consultants – a law office based in Istanbul, serving as legal advisers
to major Turkish shipowning groups and also to the Turkish Chamber of Shipping.
The firm is also doing extensive work with P&I clubs and H&M underwriters. Professor
Ülgener is the Turkish representative on the Bimco Documentary Committee.
The New Turkish Commer
The New Turkish Commercial Code
(NTCC) as legislated by the Turkish
National Assembly was passed in January
2011. At the same time, the Turkish
National Assembly has also passed the
New Turkish Code of Obligations. Both
laws will come into effect on 1 July 2012.
In this article we will mainly focus on
the changes that have been effected in
the Fourth Book of the NTCC which
regulates the Law of Maritime Trade as this
regards the P&I club.
Carriers’ liability – the new regime
While the present regime (TTK) is in
line with the Hague Rules, the NTCC
creates a mixed system of Hague-Visby and
Hamburg Rules. As per Article 1178, the
carrier is liable for loss or damage to the
cargo as well as losses arising out of delay.
This seems to be the main essence of the
Hamburg Rules, and significant evidence
of deviation from Hague-Visby Rules.
On the other hand, exceptions of liability because of loss or damage to cargo
are the same as in the present commercial code, and similar to the Hague-Visby
Rules, i.e. errors in navigation and fire are
straightforward exceptions, while perils of
the sea, war, warlike operations, inherent
vice, etc. are creating prima facie evidence
for discharge of liability.
A new rule has been introduced for los24
ses arising from several causes. If one of the
causes stands as an exception of liability
and the other stands as a cause for liability,
the amount of claim will be calculated pro
rata.
Another important change has been
made in respect of unit/package limitation,
i.e. SDR (SDR 667.67 per unit/package or
SDR 2 per kg, whichever is higher for loss
of or damage to cargo) is now being introduced. Wilful misconduct and gross negligence on the part of the carrier amounts
to the loss of the right to limit liability.
Regarding Rotterdam Rules, Turkey
has not declared its intentions yet about
whether to accept those or not. If the
decision turns out to be positive, then it
is obvious that the NTCC will have to be
amended accordingly.
Time charters
Time charters are not included in the
present regime. As a positive improvement,
time charters are now within the NTCC,
but as a separate type of contract, i.e. they
have not been included with other types of
contract of affreightment (such as voyage
charters), on the grounds that owners do
pass the right of use of commercial spaces
of the vessel to the charterers for a specified
time and do not undertake to carry cargo
under time charters. (As regards this aspect, the draft was strongly criticized)
As a result of the initiative by the Chamber of Shipping, issues such as securing
hire, minimum time of off-hire and redelivery have also been added to the sub
chapter for time charters.
Counter-security for arresting ships
Turkey is not often considered a place of
easy arrest; one of the major reasons for
this has been high rates for countersecurity, i.e. the arresting party has to provide a bank letter of guarantee, generally
up to 15% or even 20%, to the court in
order to arrest a vessel. The position will be
not the same under the NTTC.
Under Article 1363 a fixed amount of
EUR 10,000 has to be provided as countersecurity for arresting a vessel. The same
Article also states that, upon application
of the opponent party and subject to the
consideration of the court, the amount of
counter-security can be increased in
accordance with factors such as TC rate.
On the other hand, this Article has
been criticized on the grounds that for
small outstandings or damages and/or
losses, the counter-security amount (EUR
10,000) would be a factor discouraging
the claimants from arresting the vessel.
By bearing in mind the present system
and its consequences (for example, for an
amount of EUR 10,000 the claimants have
to provide counter-security for the same
PHoto: iStockphoto
cial Code
amount under the NTCC, but EUR 1,500
under the present system) the Chamber
of Shipping has proposed a mechanism
similar to one granted to the opponents,
i.e. after pro-viding the counter security of
EUR 10,000, claimants will have the right
to ask the court to reduce this amount.
Club letters of undertaking
Another improvement within the NTCC
is the introduction of CLU’s (club letters
of undertaking). Under the present regime,
letters of undertakings are not acceptable
at all by the courts; a bank letter of guarantee (unconditional and unlimited as to
time) is a condition precedent to arresting a
vessel or to releasing an arrested vessel.
This was naturally creating difficulties
and also discouraging the parties, as loss of
time for the issuing of a bank letter of guarantee was encountered in most cases (due
to inter-bank problems); high interest rates
were another factor discouraging parties.
Under NTCC, letters of undertaking
will be accepted by the courts, but this is
conditional, i.e. the opponent party has to
accept the CLU and also has to inform the
court consequently.
Cancellation of charter
– compensation of losses
Under TTK (the present regime), if the
charterers cancel a charter without just
cause (cases of justified cancellation are
expressly stated by TTK, such as war or
loss of the vessel and/or cargo, etc), they are
obliged to pay half of the freight (and in
some cases even 2/3) as a penalty.
The NTCC has a different approach to
this matter. The owners have to prove that
their losses arise from of an unjustified
cancellation of the charter; if there are difficulties in determining the loss, the court
may calculate the compensation as 30%
of the total freight. (This percentage was
10% in the first draft, but as a result of the
Chamber of Shipping’s initiative, it has
been increased.) General Average
The present regime has a set of rules regarding general average. The NTCC is
changing this and without containing detailed articles, it simply refers to the latest
York-Antwerp Rules being applicable at
the time of the event.
Pollution
One of the major changes introduced by
the NTCC is a new chapter dedicated to
pollution issues. The new chapter has two
sections. The first refers to CLC 1992/
IOPC 1992, and the last governs the application of those conventions.
The importation of those conventions
into the domestic system also makes them
applicable to Turkish-flagged vessels
directly.
IMAC
Istanbul Maritime and Administrative
Court (IMAC) was established in 2004 to
deal with matters and disputes arising out
of the fourth chapter of TTK. During the
period since 2004 some difficulties have
been encountered, for example: according
to the by-laws of the Ministry of Justice,
IMAC is a special court, which can only
have a single judge. However, time has
proved that a system with a single judge is
not rational. Furthermore, the definition
of the task of the IMAC as “matters and
disputes arising out of fourth chapter of
TTK” is making it impossible for IMAC
to deal with cargo indemnity cases, as, in
such cases cargo insurers based on subrogation are the claimants, but the issue of subrogation is not covered by the fourth chapter, but by the fifth chapter. (Insurance)
In order to avoid those difficulties, the
NTCC introduces a full commercial court
(with three judges) which will only deal
with matters and disputes arising out of
the fourth chapter of the NTCC as well
as stemming from any other source of law,
which would be according same issues.
Further, depending on the requirements,
further IMAC’s can be established in different regions.
25
The Swedish Club Academy | New training providers/Out and Ab
New MRM
training providers
Martin Hernqvist
Managing Director
The Swedish Club Academy AB
Since the latest issue of The
Swedish Club Triton, we have welcomed
the following training establishments to
our group:
 Hamburg Port Services GmbH,
Hamburg, Germany
 Malaysian Maritime Academy
(ALAM), Malacca, Malaysia
 Kherson State Maritime Institute,
Kherson, Ukraine
 Novikontas Maritime College,
Riga, Latvia
 Hindustan Institute of Maritime
Training (HIMT), Chennai, India
 Odessa Maritime Training Centre,
Odessa, Ukraine
 Odessa Maritime Training Centre
(Kherson branch), Kherson, Ukraine
 Swayam Maritime Academy,
Mumbai, India
 Reederei Hans Peterson & Söhne
GmbH & Co KG, Rendsburg, Germany
(c/o Hanseatic Shipping Philippines
Inc., Manila, Philippines)
26
31 October 2010 MRM Workshop Leader
Heikki Koivisto (front) of Satakunta University of
Applied Sciences, Rauma, Finland has just completed an MRM course for representatives of the
TUDEV/Piri Reis University in Istanbul, Turkey.
Out
and About
with MRM
out with MRM
2-4 November 2010 The MRM Workshop Leader training
and meeting event at Maritime Institute ”Willem Barentsz”,
Terschelling, Netherlands, was attended by MRM training
providers from ten different countries.
Continues
11 November 2010
Delegates of Reederei Karl
Schlüter’s crew meeting in
Opatija, Croatia, gathered for
a photo. The main topic of the
meeting was MRM.
27
The Swedish Club Academy | Out and About with MRM

16 November 2010
The organiser of the seminar in
Mumbai, Capt K. N. Deboo of
Anglo-Eastern Maritime Training
Centre, welcoming the guests.
Introduction to MRM seminar
in Mumbai, India. From left to
right, Mr Kailash Gupta, Director,
Shipping Corporation of India, Mr
Amitava Banerjee, Chief Surveyor
with the Government of India,
Capt M. M. Saggi, Nautical Advisor to the Government of India, Dr
Satish Agnihotri, Director General
of Shipping & Ex. Officio Additional Secretary to the Govt. of India
and Martin Hernqvist, The Swedish Club Academy.
Out and About
with MRM
21-23 February 2011 Participants on the
island of Arkö, Sweden, at, what we believe
to be the world’s first MRM course for pilot
boat operators. The Swedish Maritime Administration aims at providing MRM training
for all of their about 220 pilot boat operators
over the next two and a half years.


12-14 January 2011 MRM course
held at The Swedish Club Academy for officers from the residence ship “The World”.
Front row, left to right: Staff Captain Sverre
Falch, Captain Erik Bredhe, Ship Security
Officer Martyn Lancaster. Back row, left to
right: Martin Hernqvist, The Swedish Club
Academy, First Engineer Rune Bondal,
Assistant Chief Engineer Morten Skarshaug
and Joakim Vonasek, JV Maritime Consulting.
28
17-19 November 2010 Participants at the MRM Workshop Leader
training and meeting event in Mumbai, India. Companies and training
providers represented at the meeting
were Anglo-Eastern Maritime Training
Centre, BSM Maritime Training Centre
for Advanced Learning, Hindustan Institute of Maritime Training, Malaysian
Maritime Academy (ALAM), OMCI Ship
Management, Samundra Institute of
Maritime Studies (SIMS) and Wallem
Maritime Training Centre.
1 December 2010 MRM training for pilots is increasing.
Here a number of German pilots have received their MRM
Workshop Leader training at the facilities of the Kiel pilots
– Lotsenbrüderschaft NOK II/Kiel/Lübeck/Flensburg.
15 February 2011 MRM Workshop Leader Training at
Marlow Navigation Ukraine in Odessa. Besides Marlow
Navigation Ukraine the event was attended by the new
MRM training providers in the Ukraine; Kherson State
Maritime Institute, Odessa Maritime Training Centre and the
Kherson branch of the Odessa Maritime Training Centre.
29
Club information | Staff Presentation
New underwriter Hans Filipsson
Carola Weidenholm
Corporate
Communications
Our new underwriter, Hans Filipsson, became
a sailor at the early age of 16. Since then he has tried out
everything from deck boy to chief officer for several Swedish
shipowners. In 1988 he completed his Master Mariner Exam
at Chalmers University of Technology and then decided to go
ashore to work with claims, underwriting and lecturer, as as
well as running his own business before finding his way to The
Swedish Club last year.
But lets jump back some years first; to 1999 to be precise,
when Hans studied the supplementary course: “Commercial
Management and Organization in Nautical Science” and felt
inspired to do something new. That resulted in him founding
the company Marconova Survey AB, where he was working as
a marine consultant providing claims management to international underwriters.
“I did this for ten years and during the time I also had recurring engagements as a lecturer at my old university. As I am a
people person I found myself more and more looking forward
to the teaching and interaction with the students,” he tells.
And one thing lead to another; in 2009 he sold the company
to Lars Krogius in Helsinki and for two years he worked as a
lecturer in ship stability and tanker courses at Chalmers
University before the yearning for the hot air as an underwriter caught up with him.
An understanding of the business
Last year he was contacted by our HR Director Helena
Wallerius Dahlsten, who expressed her and the Club’s interest
in engaging him as an underwriter.
”From my earlier years as a broker and underwriter I had
come to know the co-workers at The Swedish Club well and I
regarded them to be very competent and professional to have
dealings with, so when Helena called I felt both flattered and
tempted by the offer.” says Hans. I have also been good friends
for many years with Tord Nilsson, head of the Piraeus office,
Kjell Augustsson at the Hong Kong office and Peter Andersson,
head of Team III in Gothenburg, which made the decision even
easier,” he continues.
Hans Filipsson, Underwriter, Team Göteborg III.
30
Se
lling a relationship
Photo: Jonas Ahlsén
”The doors are open as the spadework
has already been done”
Hans in brief
Name: Hans Filipsson
Age: 49 years
Family: wife Christina and two
children: Marcus 18 and Elin 13.
Spare time: following the children’s
activities. Elin is into horse riding and
Marcus, who played ice hockey for
several years, is now a hockey referee.
Hans likes to sail, both off the West
Coast and in the Mediterranean. He
used to have a sailing boat in Turkey
but for the time being he is satisfied
with his Jeanneau 35 in Sweden. He
is also a member of the board at the
Nautical Club. Once he owned a trotting horse but it was an expensive
hobby; “even more time consuming
than golf”, according to Hans.
Background: Several different positions aboard for Ektank, Broströms
and Nordström & Thulin 1978 – 89.
Studied at first to mate and then
further to become Master Mariner
in 1988. 1989-93 he went ashore to
work with claims and underwriting
at the insurance company Skandia,
to move on to become a broker at
Delta Insurance 1993-95. 1996-99 he
was a hull underwriter at Atlantica.
In -99 he also took a Diploma in
Commercial Management and
Organization in Nautical Science and
next he started his own business,
Marconova, working with Marine
Surveyors and P&I correspondents.
In 2009 he sold the company and
joined the Club in 2010.
Since six months Hans’ job is to keep in contact with brokers and shipowners at the Team III markets: Germany, the
Netherlands, the U.K. and North America. His background,
with the network that comes along with it, is perfectly suited
to an underwriter as it has provided him with a wide knowledge of the shipowning enterprise as well as terms and conditions.
“It is essential to understand the business of the client and
what it requires, particularly when you are not selling a product but actually a long-term relationship”, Hans explains.
”I am also fascinated by the client meeting and the situations
arising round the negotiation table; in general I really like to
have people around me!” says Hans.
Claims handling that opens doors
In recent years The Swedish Club has carried out a marketing
drive which has sent echoes throughout the shipowning community. And it has paid off with strong finances, a good reputation for supplying a high service level as well as a swift and
smooth claims handling with rapid payments when necessary.
“The Club has a very strong position as Lead in the hull market. We are one operator among very few in the business today,
that can offer the highest level of service to shipowners and
charterers. The majority of the marine insurance companies is
primarly signing follow risks and accordingly the level of service is less important to them”, Hans explains.
“Our claims handling in general has a very good reputation
for being swift and smooth, which make it much easier for me
as an underwriter to be let in by both shipowners and brokers.
The doors are open as the spadework has already been done,”
Hans says with a smile.
Of current interest: our new
underwriter in Team Göteborg III at
the head office in Gothenburg
At The Swedish Club since:
November 2010
31
Club information | Staff Presentation
New Loss Prevention Officer Joakim Enström
Carola Weidenholm
Corporate
Communications
From the depth of the seas, up to the surface and
then ashore – in brief, that is how you can describe Joakim
Enström’s way to the job as Loss Prevention Officer at The
Swedish Club. He started his career in a navy submarine in the
mid-90s but realised he preferred the water surface and decided to become a deck officer. Four years at Chalmers University
of Technology took care of that and he was ready for take-off.
His first job was to master the open tourist boats of Gothenburg, Paddan. But larger vessels caught his interest, so he contacted Royal Caribbean and a few months later he first moved
to London almost directly to fly to Vancouver and sign on to
the Radiance of the Seas. In summertime, he manoeuvred the
293 metre long ship through the narrow fiords of Alaska and
in the winter he cruised around the islands of the Caribbean.
Saving lives
About a year later he experienced his first real rescue. It was a
night in June and they were sailing the Passage’s Hecate Strait
on their way from Ketchikan to Vancouver.
“We got a radio call at 4:55 am from the Coast Guard
Station telling us three fishermen on the Silver Bounty had
called in an SOS as they where beginning to sink, so we
ramped up the speed and went there”, Joakim tells. “And it was
within an ace; as the last of the fishermen were hoisted up by
the crew onto a rescue boat, the Silver Bounty went fully
underneath the surface”, he continues.
The rescue was completed at about 6 am and everyone
escaped the incident alive.
Widening the horizons
During his years at Royal Caribbean, he made two detours
to manoeuvre high speed crafts instead – first in the English
Channel between Weymouth and the Channel Islands and
later for a Canadian shipping company in warmer waters
between Trinidad & Tobago.
“At the latter I also took part in developing the enterprise in
the Caribbean, which gave me new and useful experience of
the industry”, says Joakim.
In 2008 he added yet another experience when he went to
the North Sea to operate anchor handlers for a Norwegian
Joakim Enström, Loss Prevention Officer.
32
Wide experience of the seas
Photo: Jonas Ahlsén
”…the immediate cause
of an accident, is rarely the root cause”
Joakim in brief
Name: Joakim Enström
Age: 35 years
Spare time: Joakim spends quite
some time in the gym and often
sees friends. He also goes to concerts, especially heavy metal. In winter he likes skiing and in the summer
he spends time at the family cottage
by a lake in Värmland or sailing off
the West Coast.
Background: he did his military
service aboard a submarine and after
that went on to Chalmers University
of Technology to become a Master
Mariner 2002. Officer at Royal Caribbean 2002-2005, with two intermediate periods as chief mate on high
speed crafts. 2005 officer on Crystal
Serenity for Crystal Cruises. 2008 he
switched to manoeuvring anchor
handler ships in the North Sea and
studying maritime law in London.
2009 he went ashore to work as
Deputy Safety and Security Manager
at CMA Ships in London.
Of current interest: our new Loss
Prevention Officer at the Head Office
in Gothenburg
shipowner. At the same time he began to study Maritime Law
in London. In July the following year it was time for an even
bigger change when Joakim went ashore to join CMA Ships
UK in London.
“I have always taken a particular interest in safety at sea – I
even wrote my final exam at Chalmers on “Crisis management
for onboard crews”. As Deputy Safety and Security Manager,
my job was to execute internal audits at the fleet, so it gave me a
chance to learn more about a variety of ships and to see things
from an auditors view.”
After eight years in England, he felt it was time to move back
to his hometown and started to look around for interesting
companies. He found The Swedish Club!
“I sent an inquiry to Helena Wallerius Dahlsten, Director at
the HR department and she answered almost immediately asking me to come for an interview. Then it all went quickly; I got
the job, found an apartment, got a vanload of furniture on the
road and a couple of months after that I landed in Gothenburg
just to start at the Club a few days later.”
Preventing accidents by root cause analysis
Joakim has sailed a variety of ship types under several different flags, which has given him an insight into the differences
in both vessels and cultures, as well as the variety of situations
that can arise on board. Added to that, he also has the legal
education with a degree in maritime law.
“The Swedish Club has over the years put a lot of efforts into
the loss prevention work and Joakim’s mix of competence is a
strong combination for further development in that area, says
Lars A. Malm, Director of Risk & Operations at the Club.
“A large part of my job will be about Interactive Root Cause
Analysis (IRCA), where we look for the connections between
incidents when an accident occurs. An interesting observation is for example that the immediate cause of an accident,
is rarely the root cause,” Joakim explains. We have to find the
underlying causes to identify the real problems so we are able
to propose the right measures to prevent them from happening
again, he concludes.
At The Swedish Club since:
October 2010
33
Club Information | News from Team Oslo Energy/Notice Board
The first risk
is written
The Swedish Club has now established an office in proper
premises in central Oslo, at the House of Business located at
Tjuvholmen close to Aker Brygge. Around 20 other smaller
recently established companies are renting on the same floor,
and we share a staffed reception, meeting rooms and other
facilities. In the neighbourhood you will find the brokers
Marsh and Bergvall plus Gard and many owners within
walking distance.
The Club has a modern reinsurance programme for all
lines of business. This programme has now been extended to
include Rig & FPSO business. Our intention to enter this segment was discussed with some reinsurers at an early stage, and
reactions were positive. Subsequent to the decision made by
the Board of Directors, several meetings have taken place with
the reinsurance broker and the panel of reinsurers. Adequate
capacity has been secured, mostly from large and professional
reinsurers in Europe and USA.
We can write up to USD 50 million for each Rig/FPSO,
applied on total value. This means that we can write up to 5%
on accounts with a top value of USD 1 billion, and this capacity is sufficient to attract the attention of brokers and owners.
Total working capacity for this segment is estimated at around
USD 1.5 billion, with a top value for any unit today of around
USD 1.25 billion.
In November 2010 we started a marketing campaign
aimed at brokers located in Oslo and London. The response
Notice Board
Verner Rydning
Senior Manager
Team Oslo Energy
has been very positive; the brokers are welcoming new and real
Scandinavian capacity. A good number of accounts are expected to be shown to us in this first year of operation. Some potential clients/owners have already been visited, and many more
will be seen during the course of this year, in full co-operation
with their preferred broker, of course.
In most ways a Rig/FPSO is handled in the same way as
a vessel. The Swedish Club staff have been allocated to these
risks, including claims handling and processing.
We were kindly offered a participation on the Stena
Drilling renewal on 1 March 2011. The fleet of drilling units
consists of four semi-submersible drilling rigs and three
modern drillships, with a very large and modern drillship
scheduled for delivery from the shipyard in February 2012.
We were offered a participation on the Gard quoted terms, and
we approved these and authorised a good share. Competition
for the share was surprisingly tough, even for a fleet with a top
value in excess of USD 1 billion. However, we were allocated
a significant participation and are very grateful to Parisco
(broker) and Stena Drilling for supporting us.
Kristian Gamme, Senior Broker & Partner at Parisco says:
“In the mid 80’ties nearly 15 Scandianvian based insurers
wrote Energy Risk. Now it is a handful of markets left. We
much appreciate the entrance of The Swedish Club into the Rig
& FPSO segment, capable of writing meaningful lines with
Rotterdam Rules
In January 2011 Spain became the first
nation to ratify or deposit their ratification of
the Rotterdam Rules with the United Nations.
The Rotterdam Rules will not be fully implemented until one year after they have been ratified by twenty signatory nations.
Now that the first nation has ratified the
Rules, several other nations that have signed
the Convention may follow suit, though it is
likely that many nations may be waiting for the
United States to ratify the Rules before acting
accordingly. At present, we understand that
34
President Obama is still to request the Senate’s
advice and consent, following which the President may deposit the United States’ ratification
with the United Nations. The Rotterdam Rules
are intended to replace the current international regimes of The Hague Rules, Hague-Visby
Rules and Hamburg Rules in the respective
countries that are signatories to those conventions. If the Rotterdam Rules are to become
effective, it would be desirable that we do not
have yet another Convention on the Carriage
of Goods by Sea to which the United States is
not a party.
Photo: Stena
and there have also been some increases in the deductible levels. Competition between the markets and insurers for shares
is increasing again, and the market is not as hard as it was during the first few months after the April 2010 losses. There have
only been a few larger renewals in 2011, accounts that were renewed last year prior to the losses and we estimate that these renewals have received an average increase of approximately 10%.
Most of the accounts renew during 2nd quarter 2011,
possibly as much as 70%. Most clients want to avoid renewal
of their insurances during the US Hurricane Season (summer/
autumn), as the market may be “shaky” if there are significant
losses during this period. We hope to offer participation on
around 25 accounts before mid-year.
The Stena Drillmax, one of Stena's modern drillships.
a new and fresh capacity. Stena is also Gothenburg based and
we, together with our valuable client, have decided to allocate
a good line on the Stena Drilling Package Policy that was renewed at 1 March 2011 to The Swedish Club.”
Ingela Tengelin, Director Risk and Insurance Management
at Stena adds: “We think The Swedish Club has taken the
right steps to diversify and start underwriting of Rig & FPSO
accounts out of Oslo. Our support will hopefully contribute to
their development of expertise within this business segment.”
After the two major losses to the rig market in April
2010, leading insurers have been requesting increased rates,
Iranian sanctions – Important
implications for members!
As has been advised previously, the sanctions regarding
Iran set out in EU Council Decision of 26 July 2010 and Regulation (EU) No. 668/2010 prohibit EU-based entities from making payments in excess of EUR 40,000 to an Iranian person,
entity or body unless the payment has been authorized by a competent authority. As far as the Club is concerned, the Swedish
Agency for Non-Proliferation and Export Controls is authorized
to assess and grant permission and receive notifications regarding
financial transactions. Due to the authorities’ turnaround time,
the permission required for payments in excess of EUR 40,000
can take several weeks to obtain. Since the clubs’ abilities to issue
A year has gone by since The Swedish Club Energy
project started and it has been exciting days. The Club has
now commenced underwriting Rig & FPSO business. I very
much enjoy doing the marketing of our capacity and capabilities aimed at the broking and client community, together with
Henric Gard, Marketing & Business Development Director.
In the past I was underwriting Energy Risks for 15 years,
before going into broking in the mid-1990s. The experience I
gained as a broker is most valuable. I understand the risks and
the client’s needs better now, and I certainly know the broker’s
role. The Club intends to build a solid book of Rig & FPSO
business over the next few years.
security are restricted, it will be particularly critical for members
in case of a vessel detention/arrest situation.
The Club has experienced situations in Iran where security
for cargo claims and custom fines was required. According to
the claimants, a Club Letter of Undertaking (LOU) would be
accepted, but the requests for security exceeded by far EUR
40,000. Due to the sanctions, the Club was prevented from issuing the required LOU’s, resulting in an obvious risk of delay of
the vessel. As a consequence, the member had to take their own
measures in order to ensure the security arrangements filling the
gap between the allowance of EUR 40,000 and the requested
security sum, in these matters several hundred thousand Euros.
Members operating in Iran are recommended to observe the
foregoing.
35
Club information | News from Asia
Photo: iStockphoto
Hong Kong from Victoria Peak.
P&I renewal
is behind us
It is time to make some observations on the marine insurance and shipping market. The process of our P&I renewal in
Asia was uneventful. We generally achieved our target of 2.5%
general increase on the risks renewed. By and large we renewed
all the accounts and the volume of business maintained.
However P&I renewal has never been easy, and there was
no exception for this last one even though the Club’s general
increase was moderate and relatively speaking lower than those
of many of our peers. The rationale for the general increase was
sound and justified as the general trend of the shipowners’
liabilities are continuing to rise and the P&I claims are getting
more expensive due to inflation. However, this came at a time
when the freight market is depressed to say the least, particularly for both dry and wet bulk markets.
Some shipowners are under a lot of pressure to cut costs to
prepare for the difficult time ahead. The BDI (Baltic Exchange
Dry Index) which reflects dry bulk market conditions went
down steadily from about 3,000 points to about 1,000 points
in the last couple of months. Then it rebounded slightly, but
has stayed below 2,000 points so far. It appears that the market attitude is quite pessimistic. There is no sign of a quick
recovery. On the contrary, there is still a large order book for
bulk carriers. Some sources suggest that over 300 panamax
newbuildings are due to be delivered to the owners in 2011, on
36
Ruizong Wang
Managing Director
Hong Kong
average one newbuilding panamax each day. Similar number
of capes are also in the pipeline this year. The newbuilding
tonnages will put further pressure on the already weak freight
market. In some sectors the daily earning of a ship is not
enough to cover the running costs. Some shipowners have been
planning to lay up ships.
The poor freight market conditions will have some negative
impact on marine insurance. We may see premium reductions
due to lay-ups and reduced shipping activities. We have already
seen a reduction in chartering activities in the dry bulk sector
in the last few months, hence fewer declarations in respect of
charterers’ liability covers. We hope that with a recovery of the
world economy some more demand will be created, and the
freight market will recover.
Club information | News from Piraeus
Photo: Nikos Kokkalias
It seems as if our
philosophy
is working
One of the Club’s most vivid supports, Captain Vassilis
Constantakopoulos, has passed away at the age of 76. Captain
Vassilis not only built up a great shipping company, a mining
company and developed a resort in his home region, but was
also, together with his wife Carmen, an ambassador of Greek
goodwill who made everybody in his vicinity feel important
and appreciated. With his generosity and friendliness he made
many friends and formed strong business relationships. He will
be missed by many of us and there will always be a special place
in the heart of many Swedish Club employees for him. The
companies that he left behind are in good hands and are being
looked after by his three sons Costis, Achilleas and Christos.
*
The last few months have seen a major drop in freight rates for
bulkers, and in combination with Korea Line seeking court
protection quite a few owners have seen income drop in this
segment. Tankers are still struggling though the container
market has improved in the last 12 months. High government
debts in many countries will force tax increases in many places
and is likely to hamper demand. China, India and to some extent Brazil and the middle-east are where the economic activity
hopefully can kick-start demand. It was also nice to read about
Sweden as being the “tiger economy” of Europe – who would
ever have thought that?
The port of Piraeus.
Tord Nilsson
Area Manager
Team Piraeus
As I write this we have just concluded the P&I renewal. 2010
was a pretty good year, or actually one of the best years that we
have had. We have renewed most fleets and added some new
accounts during the year. It was an interesting renewal and we
got to see quite a lot of business from other clubs, mostly from
those with members unhappy with renewal terms or disappointed with service. The polarization between the P&I clubs
is increasing and one understands why some of the clubs are
in trouble when we see deductible levels and claims records on
some fleets. We, on the other hand, are trying our utmost to be
fair to our members. It seems as if this philosophy is working,
because we are able to offer almost the lowest average premiums per GT within the International Group. Today we also
have one of the highest free reserves per GT and we are able to
attract a lot of new tonnage.
I also feel that our Greek and Middle-Eastern members and
the brokers with whom we place business have bought into our
concept. The ability to renew business is not about being a good
underwriter and offering the right premiums, but it is about
giving our members good service throughout the year seven
days a week and 24 hours a day. The team at the Greek office
has done a really good job during the year, and I would like to
thank everybody for their efforts.
37
Club Information | News from Team I
PhotO: Stefan Eliasson
As clear as it can get to avoid unpleasant surprises.
”No cold
showers”
As most OF you re by now well aware, the shipowners
of the Board of the Club decided on a General Increase of
2.5% for P&I policy year 2011/2012. We are pleased that The
Swedish Club for two consecutive years has been one of the
clubs’ with the lowest annual increase among the International
Group of P&I Clubs. The modest increases seen in the light
of an ever increasing claims environment and, of course, the
basic monetary inflation that over time diminishes the value
of money, have been very positive news for our members. The
Club has now managed to balance its books for yet another
year; this, coupled with an excellent healthy growth, where premiums are commensurate with risks, has greatly exceeded our
expectations.
This is no easy task in a very competitive market, and we are
humbled by the keen interest that is currently shown for the
Club. We (that is to say the Club and its members represented
by the shipowners of the Board) know that recovery after the
2008 financial turmoil has been a hard undertaking for many
members, and we are well aware that some markets and some
38
Tony Schröder
Area Manager
Team Göteborg I
shipowners are still struggling and facing harsh market realities.
We continuously aim at being our members’ long term partner and as such being sensible, pragmatic and prudent in regard
to our underwriting. By introducing a minor adjustment of
2.5% for the above-mentioned obvious reasons, we hope that
we will not surprise our members with sudden large increases
in the future, by imprudently undermining the Club’s finances
in the short term. Members have been extremely helpful and
seen the rationale for the clubs position; although negotiations
are sometimes tough, this year being no exception.
Our goal – in the concept of mutuality – is always to do our
utmost to treat all members equally. Staying true to our values
and keeping on the prudent and mutual path of underwriting
we hope to be the stable associate that we aspire to be, and
hopefully, there should be no surprises in terms of general
increases for our good members in the years and times to come.
No cold showers!
Club information | News from Team III
Photo: Stefan Eliasson
Lookout in Gothenburg maritime adventure centre.
”We have
hopes of 2011”
It appears that 2010 was one of those rare good years
for the marine insurance market as a whole. Part of the explanation is the performance of investments; another is the benign
loss outcome. The latter is mainly attributed to layup and slow
steaming as well as less congestion in approaches and ports. At
least so we believe.
It may be premature to predict a return to normal, but one
observation may be worth noting. In December 2010, a so far
benign loss outcome started to “normalize”, and 2011 so far
seems to be following the pattern of a “normal” year. Seasoned
readers know what a normal year means to the marine insurance market.
It is not instinctive in humans to go against the majority. Yet,
when an in-depth examination indicates that the majority is
likely to be wrong, we need to make our own way with a lower
probability of disappointment. We know from own experience,
and the market will come to learn, that current market levels
are not sustainable unless there is an exceptional year like 2010.
Peter Andersson
Area Manager
Team Göteborg III
We have an exceptionally good crew onboard and we have
been trusted with new members from a wider range of brokers.
The result for 2010 was a bit better than expected, showing
technical underwriting surplus from all classes of insurance.
What is more, the outcome of the recent 1 January and 20
February renewals were in line with expectations.
Crew changes: Kristoffer Lindqvist, LL.M, has left Team III
for a one-year assignment in Team Pireaus. We wish Kristoffer
all the best in Greece and hope to welcome him back in a year’s
time. Jennie Hagward, LL.M, joined Team III in March and
we wish her welcome onboard.
We have high hopes of 2011 becoming a better than expected year for shipping and we will continue doing our utmost to
assist members to not be put in harm’s way.
39
Club Information | Basic Facts/New Members/Bohus Fortress
Basic facts
per 1 April 2011
Protection & Indemnity
(including Charterer’s Liability)
Number of vessels 1,410
Average age 9.3
GT (million)
48.0
Freight Demurrage & Defence
Number of vessels 737
Average age 8.5
GT (million) 28.6
Hull & Machinery
Number of vessels Average age GT (million) 1,389
9.7
59.6
Loss of Hire
Number of vessels Average age GT (million) 531
8.9
20.1
New Members
Bohus fortress
– a Northern struggle
In Sweden you find several fortresses standing
as memories from ancient times. Then, they
where indispensable for kings to protect their
land; today they are acting more as symbols
for something solid, sustainable and safe that
survives any storm or unrest.
For the third consecutive year we are borrowing
their attributes to form a theme for our annual
report. Now the time has come to Bohus Fortress,
20 km north of Gothenburg.
Borealis Maritime Ltd., Germany
PI, FO
Greathorse Ship Management, China
PI
Guangdong Yudean Shipping, China
HM
Leif Höegh & Co. AS, Norway
HM, HI, LH
Negmar Shipping Investment A.S., Turkey
PI, FO
OSG Shipholding Group, USA
LH
Rederi AB Gotland, Switzerland
PI
SSC-Ships Service and Consulting
GmbH & Co KG, Germany
HM, HI, LH, PI
Starship SA, Greece
FO
Stena Drilling Ltd., Sweden
EM
SwissMarine Services S.A., Switzerland
HM, HI
Zhenhua Translink Shipping, China
TL, FC
EM - Energy Marine FC - Charterer’s Freight Demurrage & Defence
FO - Freight Demurrage & Defence
HI - Hull Interest HM - Hull & Machinery
LH - Loss of hire
PI - Protection & Indemnity TL - Charterer’s Liability Insurance
40
Carola Weidenholm
Corporate
Communications
Bohus Fortress stands on a high cliff along
the old Norwegian–Swedish border in
Kungälv, where River Götaälv splits into
two branches. The construction began in
1308 under King Haakon V Magnuson
of Norway. At the time the province of
Bohuslän was Norwegian and served as a
main defence against Sweden.
Records show it was constructed, as
normal for that period, out of granite and
brick. By 1450 it included a continuous
surrounding wall, 3 metres thick at the
base, with a height of 8.5 to 13.5 metres,
varying with the terrain. It was approximately rectangular, with four corner
towers.
Finally Sweden won!
The fortress was invested numerous times,
but was never captured. During the Nordic
Seven Years’ War (1563-70) it was seriously damaged, when 250 Swedish soldiers
stormed the north-eastern tower. The
Norwegian commander sent a volunteer
to blow up the ammunition stores underneath, killing the Swedes and repelling
the attack. Bohus Fortress was rebuilt and
reinforced immediately afterwards and in
1593-1604 it was upgraded to a bastion.
As Swedish invasions continuously threatened in this period, the improvements
went on for decades.
Under the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658,
Denmark-Norway ceded Bohuslän to
Sweden. Since the fortress no longer lay
on the border it was of less use to Sweden,
which relied on the existing Älvsborg
Fort-ress at Gothenburg and Carlsten
Fortress erected at Marstrand. These two
have already figured in our 2008 and 2009
annual reports.
Prison & demolition
Instead the fortress was used as a prison.
The most infamous inmate was the radical pietist Thomas Leopold, who spent 32
years of his life at Bohus – where he also
died in 1771 – for his alleged heresies. His
stone cell can be visited at the castle today.
Club information | Out and About
Christmas Dinner
in Greece –
December 2010
Photo: Anna Jolfors
Among the distinguished guests were Dr &
Mrs John Coustas, Danaos Shipping Co Ltd…
The traditional Christmas
Dinner in Greece was, as usual,
held at the Yacht Club. The dinner
was well attended by members and
business associates. The guests were
entertained by the Scandinavian
Church Choir, for the evening
strengthened by some beautiful
voices of the Club’s staff.
At the end of the 18th century it was
decided that the unused fortress should
be demolished. Demolition crews worked
for two months before the money ran out
and residents of the surrounding town
of Kungälv used the dressed stones for
building houses. Much of the fortress is
still intact, including the large northern
tower “Fars hatt” (Father’s hat), and is now
a museum open to tours in the summer.
Bohus Fortress in short
Built: 1308
Materials: granite, brick
In use: 1308-1789
Controlled by: Norway, Denmark-Norway
and Sweden
Read more at: www.bohusfastning.com
…and Mr and Mrs Andreas Callitsis & son Nassos, Callitsis Shipmanagement S.A.
41
Club information | Out and About
Club Evening
Gothenburg
On 16 November last year The Swedish
Club held a Club evening in Gothenburg.
Participants heard Lena Gipperth from The
Swedish Institute for the Marine Environment
at the University of Gothenburg and Fredrik
Vinge from the Vinge law firm discussing the
liabilities concerning shipwrecks which leak oil
and other ecologically harmful substances.
From left Fredrik Vinge, Vinge, Gothenburg, Lena Gipperth, The Swedish Institute for the
Marine Environment at the University of Gothenburg and Henric Gard, Director Marketing
& Business Development at the Club.
Traditional Christmas Dinner at the island of Donsö
On 14 DecembER 2010 the Club gathered members from the southern archipelago of
Gothenburg to enjoy the traditional Christmas Dinner at restaurant “Isbolaget”.
42
Club information | In Memoriam/Staff News
Staff News
Head office Göteborg
Victor Bogesjö
Ingrid Andersson,
has accepted permanent
employment and been
appointed Claims
Exeutive in Team
Göteborg I.
Senior Hull Claims
Adjuster, retired from
the Club on 28 February
2011 after 43 years of
dedicated service to the
Club and its members.
We wish her all the
best for the future and
a happy retirement.
Jennie Hagward,
Captain Vassilis C.
Constantakopoulos
in Memoriam
We have THE sad duty informing you
that Captain Vassilis Constantakopoulos,
founder of Costamare Shipping, passed
away on 25 January 2011. Costamare has
been a member of The Swedish Club since
1979, and Captain Vassilis served as a
most valued board member from 1987 to
2005, of which the last five years as
Deputy Chairman.
Captain Vassilis was known for his
warm heart and business skills. He combined these qualities in pursuing opportunities and in inspiring others both on
land and at sea. Apart from building
Costamare successfully in the container
trade, he designed Costa Navarino, an
environmentally friendly resort featuring state-of-the-art facilities in Messinia,
from where he originated. His concern
for the environment, which started at a
time when few others were involved in the
same way, was also at focus of his work
as Chairman of HELMEPA (Hellenic
Marine Environment Protection Association).
Whilst we miss Captain Vassilis’ caring
personality, his endeavours will be treasured and always remembered.
Assistant Claims
Executive, joined Team
Göteborg III on a oneyear traineeship as of 1
March 2011. She holds a
business-oriented LL.B
from the University
of Gothenburg and an
LL.M in Maritime law
from Southampton.
Thomas Carlsson,
Systems Engineer, has
resigned from the Club
after 21 years of service.
We wish him all the best
in his future career.
Ingalill Dahl,
Underwriting Assistant,
retired from the Club on
28 February 2011 after
41 years of dedicated
service to the Club and
its members. We wish
her all the best for the
future and a happy
retirement.
Jenny Herlin,
Communications
Assistant, joined
Corporate
Communications
as of 7 March 2011.
She holds a Bachelor
of Arts in Media and
Communication and
has previously worked
as an Information
Assistant and Marketing
Coordinator.
Göran Lindholm,
Erik Johansson
has been appointed
Underwriter in Team
Göteborg I as of 1
January 2011.
Systems Engineer,
retired from the Club
on 31 January 2011
after nearly 14 years of
dedicated service to the
Club and its members.
We wish him all the
best for the future and
a happy retirement.
PIRAEUS
Louise
Kolderup-Finstad
has accepted permanent
employment as
Underwriting/Team
Assistant in Team
Göteborg III.
Kristoffer Lindqvist,
Claims Executive,
FD&D joined the
Club’s Piraeus office on
1 March 2011 for a one
year assignment.
Lars Rhodin
Managing Director
43
Club calendAr
13 April 2011
Club Evening, Hamburg
14 April 2011
Club Evening, Bremen
2-6 May 2011
Marine Insurance Course, Gothenburg
11 May 2011
Member Luncheon, Piraeus
12 May 2011
Member Luncheon, Istanbul
15 June 2011
Board Meeting, Gothenburg
16 June 2011
Annual General Meeting, Gothenburg
For further upcoming events, please refer to
www.swedishclub.com/Club Calendar
44

Safety - The Swedish Club

Transcription

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