Marine Insurance

Marine insurance offers coverage for any damage or loss related to yachts, ships, cargo, terminals, transports or transfer. It is highly customizable, allowing policyholders to tailor their coverage based on the specific risks associated with their pleasure craft, maritime operations or cargo. We work closely with our clients and insurance providers to ensure comprehensive protection against the myriad sea risks.

The main advantages of marine insurance are: –

Charterers Liability Insurance

Charterers Liability Insurance cover is designed to cover charterers for their liabilities when they charter a ship. The vessel will still be covered by the shipowner for their own interests but obviously there are two distinct but different responsibilities between a shipowner and a charterer. Disputes can arise if for example a cargo arrives damaged. The cargo receivers may not want to accept it or only the non-damaged part of the cargo and they will want security against the shipowner. However, the charterer may have responsibility for the stowage or for the loading etc and it is not always clear straight away who is responsible for causing the damage. In addition, if a vessel is delayed for reasons of engine failure, the charterers have the right to recover trans-shipment costs or be compensated for the delay. The Charterers cover will assist with the recovery and/or the dispute.

Secondly, there is an additional class of cover and that is Freight Demurrage and Defence (FD&D). This is a legal cost cover and helps the Charterer in situations where a contractual legal dispute has arisen. The insurer will deal with the dispute internally but will also outsource to a solicitor, if so required, and the expensive legal costs are covered.

LMIS has a proven track record in this specialist area, working closely for many years with one of the markets’ leading capacity providers for this class.

Cover available includes:-

Hull & Machinery and Associated Risks

Marine Hull and Machinery (H&M) insurance protects the insured vessel or fleet against physical damage caused by a peril of the sea or other covered perils while the vessel is in transit over water. It will also include recovery actions and other events associated with a physical loss at sea.

Although the most commonly insured vessels are those operating in the ocean or at sea, H&M insurance can cover vessels that work in any kind of waterway, such as tugboats, barges and floating machinery, as well vessels operating on inland waterways. We are also able to provide hull & machinery cover for floating restaurants & floatings hotels. Policies can be written to cover a single vessel or multi-vessel fleets.

Our dynamic team of brokers are able to place H&M business in the international markets and also have access to a number of specialist facilities; covering blue and brown water vessels, superyachts and larger shipping fleets and whilst our traditional clients are smaller fleets – mid-sized shipowners with singletons and doubletons which can generally be overlooked by the mainstream markets, we are also able to provide complete coverage for larger worldwide fleets.

LMIS can offer a flexible approach to providing cover which is specifically tailored to the requirements of the shipowner, for example:

We have a truly flexible approach to arranging cover and we are happy to work with both Institute Time Clauses (Hulls) or the Norwegian Plan; a long history of excellent claims service; a network of specialist consultants and contractors to assist you with risk management; as well as a multi-lingual team covering all corners of the world.

With access to this professional team we enable you to speak directly to the knowledge base to ensure your needs are fully understood.

Please contact us on marine@lmisbroker.co.uk for more information.

Piracy Insurance

Piracy insurance generally covers physical loss or damage to the ship or its cargo, along with kidnap and ransom coverage for the crew. This policy can also include coverage for the daily loss that comes from having a ship detained and unable to be used while the owners negotiate a ransom with the pirates. Coverage can also include the use of a team who have experience in these types of negotiations.

We can obtain such coverage for ship owners, ship managers, charterers of vessels and yacht owners.

Coverage can include:

Ports and Terminals

This cover takes into account various infrastructure and equipment as well as liabilities; coverage is designed and tailor-made to fit the individual business of the Port and Terminal operator. This of course can include, if required, vessels as well as pilot boats, work boats and dredgers etc., although for our clients these vessels are covered separately within the classes of Protection & Indemnity liability and Hull & Machinery. Coverage for freight forwarding operations, property and handling equipment is also included.

Coverage typically includes:-

Protection & Indemnity Risks

The market for Protection & Indemnity risks is split between the Mutual P&I clubs and the fixed premium underwriters. We specialise in placing these accounts in accordance with the ship owner’s requirements and dependent upon the age and profile of the vessel(s) concerned.  We can access all the mutual and fixed markets and we constantly monitor the fixed premium market to keep up to date with any changes in underwriter’s parameters and in terms of the market perception of quality and claims performance.

Our experienced marine team are able to offer a high level of service due to their extensive knowledge of this specialised market.

Please contact us on marine@lmisbroker.co.uk for more information.