"Long Grant" Was The First Step To Pull Out Of The Canal, Followed By Claims Of More Than $500 Million

On the evening of March 29, the Suez Canal Authority announced that the freighter "Changci" was fully restored to the normal channel and arrived at the Great Bitter Lake. Evergreen shipping, the operator of "Changci", also said on its official website that the "Changci" has been successfully overcome and the Suez Canal has resumed normal traffic. On March 30, container ships successfully passed through the Suez Canal.

However, for "Changci", its troubles are not limited to the narrow canal channel, and a series of claims are the real deep swamp. Egypt has come up with a huge bill for shipowners to pay.

On March 30, Chen youmu, deputy director of the maritime and Maritime Professional Committee of the all China Lawyers Association, told reporters in an interview with the 21st century economic report that the amount of compensation for billions of dollars is too large, and the estimated losses and expenses are about 520 million US dollars, such as the hull loss of 120 million US dollars, the canal operation loss of 100 million US dollars and the rescue cost of 300 million US dollars, which are relatively clear claims In case of compensation, the remaining claims are not easily supported.

Another professional expert in shipping insurance disclosed to the reporter that the shipowner asked the rescue company to let the "long grant" ship out of the stranded state. The huge salvage fee is to prevent the common loss of the hull and cargo, so it will be shared between the shipowner and the cargo owner as general average. This means that the owner of the goods on the "Changci" has to share a large amount of expenses.

Facing huge claims

According to the estimation of the Egyptian Financial Statistics Bureau, when the "Changci" stayed in the canal, in addition to blocking up $9.6 billion worth of goods every day, it also caused about 14 million US dollars / day of losses to the Suez Canal managers.

In recent days, there has been a lot of news about the skyrocketing claims faced by the "Changci" ship. Some analysts believe that the claim amount will reach billions of dollars. For example, the most popular claim is that according to Lloyds' list, freighters blocked the Suez Canal, blocking $9.6 billion worth of goods a day. In addition, more than 400 freighters were delayed in their voyage, resulting in huge losses. It seems that all of them can claim compensation from the "Changci".

In this regard, Chen youmu believes that at present, there are five parties that can claim compensation. One is the owner of the "Changci" number, who can claim damages to the goods or losses caused by delay in delivery. The other is the international salvage employed by the local salvors, ship owners and insurers in Egypt. For example, the Dutch maritime rescue company Smith salvage may claim the salvage costs against the owner of the "long grant" ship and the owner of the ship. The third claimant is the Suez Canal manager, who can claim against the owner of the ship "Changci" for direct and indirect losses arising from the blockage of the canal. The fourth party is that the shipowner of "Changci" has the right to claim for contribution of general average to the charterer or cargo owner for the salvage or other expenses incurred for the common safety. "The first three types of claims are all Japanese shipowners of" Changci ", but the fourth is for cargo owners," Chen Yumu pointed out. The fifth category is the cost of waiting, suspending and detouring the Cape of good hope due to the blockage of the canal. There will be a lot of legal disputes among the owners, Charterers and cargo owners of their respective ship operations, which is more troublesome.

Among these claimants, it is clear that they can claim for direct losses including salvage costs and loss of income caused by the closure of the canal. As for the fifth category of claims, it is difficult to support them.

"The success of such claims has also caused heated discussion within us." An anonymous shipping company told the 21st century economic report that the company was also highly concerned about the follow-up effects of the "Changci" and conducted an internal discussion and re listing with the "Changci" as an example. The conclusion is that the fifth type of claim is very difficult because the law does not support unforeseen loss claims.

The above-mentioned people believe that the salvage fee and the losses of the Suez canal management party are very clear, and the claim is expected to be smooth. Although there are disputes about the cause of the accident at present, the shipowner and the captain of the "long grant" pointed out that weather factors are the main factors, but Egypt believes that even if there are weather reasons, human factors are more serious. The dispute between the two sides will gradually become clear with the investigation.

The cargo owners share a huge amount of salvage fee?

The above-mentioned shipping personage, who did not want to be named, explained to the 21st century economic report that shipping companies usually buy two types of insurance for their ships, one is called ship insurance or hull insurance. This kind of insurance is purchased by commercial insurance companies. Its coverage covers the loss of the ship's hull and the machinery in the hull. There are also some clauses that will cover the collision liability of the ship, but the collision here refers to Liability for collision between ships and other ships. However, the collision between a ship and an object outside the ship is called touch in shipping industry terminology, and the commercial insurance company is not responsible for the collision. Therefore, the shipping company will also purchase a kind of insurance from various P & I associations to protect the coverage not covered by commercial insurance, such as the liability for cargo, personnel, wreck salvage and collision liability.

The P & I association is a kind of mutual insurance organization for shipowners. There are more than a dozen of them in the world. Therefore, the stranding accident of the "Changci" will be jointly handled by the hull insurer and the P & I insurer, and different shipinsurers will share different losses.

For example, the loss of the "Changci" hull itself needs to claim compensation from the insurer of its hull insurance and ship insurance. In addition, the loss of canal embankment and operational loss caused by its collision shall be borne by the P & I Association. "In fact, these two losses are not big, and the greater loss is the rescue cost." The above-mentioned shipowner explained that the shipowner asked the salvage company to let the "Changci" ship out of the stranded state. This salvage fee is to prevent the common loss of the hull and cargo, so it will be shared between the shipowner and the cargo owner as general average. According to its introduction, if the loss belongs to the hull, it will be borne by the ship's insurer. At the same time, there are many cargo owners in the containers on board. If the salvage cost shared by the cargo is borne by the cargo insurance insurer behind the goods.

There is a big dispute about whether the cargo owner should bear general average. Some shipping people think that the "long grant" is applicable to general average, but many freight forwarders and shipowners are against it.

"It seems inappropriate to raise general average, as there is no evidence that the ship and cargo are in danger." Cai Jiaxiang, permanent vice president of the China Cargo Owners Association, believes that if there is indeed evidence that the ship is in danger, it is of general average nature to discard some of the cargo to ensure the safety of the ship.

If it belongs to general average, the inspection agency of the insurance company that first determines the accident shall determine the general average according to the situation of the accident, and provide the bill of lading, packing list, invoice, original insurance policy, the master's general average release letter and general average adjustment statement.

However, Cai Jiaxiang believes that at present, the Egyptian canal manager claims to claim against the "Changci" because of human error or the "Changci" is trapped, which shows that the general average proposed by the ship is not tenable.

Li Zhimin, vice president and Secretary General of China International Freight Forwarders Association, also believes that the goods are not damaged, but are delayed. Therefore, the freight forwarder will not make any compensation and can seek the insurance company to sue the freight forwarder for joint and several liability.

However, the above-mentioned shipping personage pointed out that although the cargo owners may have objection, their defense will not be tenable, because even if it is the grounding caused by the owner's driving management behavior, or the collision accident or collision accident, according to the relevant laws and regulations of various countries, the owner's behavior is exempt from liability for the cargo owner. Therefore, "the cargo owner should not be able to escape the contribution of general average and salvaged expenses.". Unless the cargo owners can prove that the ship is not seaworthy and causes such loss, then the shipowners can hold the shipowner fully responsible.

"This incident has caused the vessel, cargo and other property on the same voyage of the" long grant "to be in common danger and has constituted general average." Chen youmu believes that it also depends on the cause of the accident whether the Charterers and shipowners can be required to share the burden. If it is caused by the reasons for which the shipowner can be exempted, such as the grounding accident caused by navigation fault, then the shipowner of "Changci" has the right to require all parties to make contribution in general average.

If all parties of the "long grant" are to bear general average together, how high is the amount of compensation? "It is estimated that 10% of the value of the whole ship is to be estimated. Roughly speaking, the value of more than 22000 cases of cargo is expected to be at least $500 million, which means that shipowners will share at least 50 million US dollars in general average." But this is only a very rough estimate, and the amount of general average will be clear in a long lawsuit.

What's more troublesome for cargo owners is that the lawsuit may be very long, and their goods will be detained on board unless general average guarantee or deposit is issued.

If the shippers buy the corresponding insurance for their goods, they can also use the insurance companies to disperse the pressure of compensation. But if they do not buy the corresponding insurance to save money, the pressure of huge compensation will crush some small shippers and freight forwarders.

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