Hull Insurance

London hull underwriters are hoping to impose tough new clauses from next month (November) which are aimed at stopping delayed and suspicious claims from shipowners. Hoping to, that is, unless quick-talking brokers refuse to accept the changes to the Joint Hull Committee’s Institute Time Clauses (ITC) from November 1 – as some underwriters privately expect. The clauses will not be mandatory and, therefore, it seems likely that they could be slow to be adopted.

What the Committee wants to impose are the first changes since the clauses were redrafted in 1983. One aim is to try to eliminate the claims from those owners who to try to cut costs by passing off routine maintenance as repairs so making underwriters pay. “It is quite improper for the ITC to provide cover which effectively allows an assured to allow the engine to deteriorate to such an extent that it causes damage which is covered by the policy,” commented the Committee’s chairman Mr. Stephen D. Redmond. He dubbed this an “inappropriate incentive.”

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