Marine Insurance and reinsurance

Our firm is well positioned to represent marine insurance and reinsurance companies, brokers, insureds, and regulators in matters ranging from the anticipated to the unexpected.

Marine insurance covers the loss or damage of ships, cargo, terminals, and any transport or cargo by which property is transferred, acquired, or held between the points of origin and final destination. Our firm is well positioned to represent marine insurance and reinsurance companies, brokers, insureds, and regulators in matters ranging from the anticipated to the unexpected.

As natural disasters and financial instability punctuates the news throughout the world, the critical role played by insurance companies has been in the spotlight. Today, the challenges for the insurance industry are more pronounced than in years past. Scale, regulatory pressures, and financial turmoil confront life companies, which have hit bumps in the road and have been forced into regulatory supervision, rehabilitation, or liquidation.

Our firm is well positioned to serve insurance and reinsurance companies, brokers, insureds, and regulators in matters ranging from the anticipated to the unexpected. The two major prongs of our firm’s insurance practice are corporate/regulatory and litigation.

Marine Insurance

With a pre-eminent legal practice in the shipping sector, we offer a specialist all-round service in marine insurance and reinsurance sector. Our work covers the full range of marine insurance and reinsurance and includes acting for underwriters on a host of matters relating to liability, recoveries, coverage and outwards reinsurance. We handle marine casualties. We also deal with marine fraud cases and asset tracing.

We advise the shipbuilding, ship repair and offshore construction and energy industries. We also advise on activities such as the operation of drilling rigs, and the construction and operation of offshore fixed and floating structures, including physical loss, third party liabilities and business interruption claims. We have experience in policy drafting and coverage disputes, including disputes relating to placing (non-disclosure and misrepresentation) and claims.

We recognise that a casualty may occur at any time. We therefore ensure that legal assistance is available around the clock every day of the year. For major casualties or disasters, our dedicated telephone number is: + 216 25 23 24 01

Our work covers the full range of marine insurance and reinsurance. Our areas of expertise include:

• Insurance coverage and policy advice – advice on the wording of insurance policies and coverage issues.
• Marine insurance and reinsurance disputes – advice in relation to disputes (including cross border) arising under insurance policies, including managing claims in other jurisdictions.
• Defended claims – advice in relation to defending claims being pursued against an insured party in respect of a liability which is covered by insurance policy.
• Subrogated recoveries – advice in relation to pursuing claims against third parties on behalf of insurers to recover losses and expenses suffered as a result of the third party’s negligence.
• Uninsured loss recovery – advice with pursuing claims against third parties responsible for uninsured losses, including any policy excess.
• Hull and machinery damage claims – advice in relation to pursuing claims against third parties responsible for damage to the vessel.
• Breach of contract claims – advice in pursuing claims for losses suffered as a result of a breach of contract, including charter agreements, sale or purchase agreements, repair or refit contracts.
• Negligence claims – assistance in relation to pursuing claims for losses suffered as a result of negligence, including claims against surveyors or designers, or against third parties in respect of collision damage.

In marine insurance and reinsurance sector, we can help you with:

• General average and total loss claims.
• Limitation of liability.
• Loss of life/personal injury matters.
• Fire and explosion cases.
• Offshore/seismic – damage to rigs, offshore structures and terminals.
• Unsafe berth/port disputes.
• Collisions.
• Salvage / towage / wreck removal issues.
• Pollution incidents and environnemental damage.
• Piracy.
• Jurisdictional issues.

We can also help you with:

• Hull and P&I insurance
• Yacht insurance
• Marine insurance litigation
• Shipping Contracts
• Vessel Arrest
• Marine disputes