The Swedish Club No. 1 - 2012 April MANAGING the media in a high-profile casualty situation Page 24-27 Criminalisation of seafarers Page 9-11 UNSUNG HEROES of the MV “Rena”Page 28-29 THE SWEDISH CLUB TRITON 1-2012 Content | No. 1 - 2012 April LEADER | Exposure has become reality! 3 MARKETING & | 140 years old, full of new-born energy The Swedish Club is a mutual marine insurance BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT | and a prosperous future 4 company, owned and controlled by its members. The Club writes Protection & Indemnity, Freight, Demurrage & Defence, Charterers' Liability, Hull & RISK & OPERATions | Happy New Policy Year! 5-6 Machinery, War risks, Loss of Hire insurance and any additional insurance required by shipowners. The Club also writes Hull & Machinery, War risks and Loss FINANCE | Result 2011 6-7 of Hire for Mobile offshore units and FPSO's. FD&D | Freight Demurrage & Defence insurance Head Office Sweden | – State of Affairs8 Visiting address Gullbergs Strandgata 6 411 04 Gothenburg Postal address P.O. Box 171 P&I | Criminalisation of Seafarers 9-11 SE-401 22 Gothenburg, Sweden Tel +46 31 638 400 | Scindia Duties and Longshore Activities in Fax +46 31 156 711 | the United States 12-14 E-mail [email protected] Emergency tel +46 31 151 328 Club INFORmaTION | News from Gothenburg 15 Greece 5th Floor, 87 Akti Miaouli GR-185 38 Piraeus, Greece P&I | The High Cost of failing “Grain Clean” in Tel +30 211 120 8400 | Australia 16-17 Fax +30 210 452 5957 E-mail [email protected] | United States Coast Guard grants petition Emergency tel +30 6944 530 856 | to limit OPA 90 liability for Selendang Ayu | Hong Kong Suite 6306, Central Plaza Oil Spill 18-20 18 Harbour Road, Wanchai, Hong Kong Tel +852 2598 6238 SAFETY | Titanic and SOLAS 1912 - 2012 21 Fax +852 2845 9203 E-mail [email protected] LOSS PREVENTION | P&I Claims Analysis 22-23 Emergency tel +852 2598 6464 Japan Room 103, 6-1, 1 Chome, MEDIA | Under the spotlight Kaigan, Minatu-Ku | – Managing the media in a high-profile Tokyo 105-0022, Japan | Tel +81 3 6459 0870 casualty situation 24-27 Fax +81 3 6459 0871 E-mail [email protected] POLLUTION | Unsung heroes of the MV Rena grounding Emergency tel +81 3 6459 0870 | 28-29 Norway House of Business, 6th floor Postal address Tjuvholmen Allé 3 Club INFORmaTION | Notice Board 30 N-0252, Oslo, Norway Tel +47 9828 0514 THE SWEDISH Club | MRM 31-33 Mobile +47 9486 1205 E-mail [email protected] AcaDEMY | Out and about with MRM 32-33 Emergency tel +46 31 151 328 The Swedish Club Triton is published three times a year | Club INFORmaTION Staff presentations and distributed free of charge. The Swedish Club Triton is an editorially independent newsletter and opinions | Marine Claims Manager, expressed by external contributors are not necessarily | Johan Kahlmeter 34, 36 those of The Swedish Club. Articles herein are not intended to provide legal advice and the Club does not | P&I Claims Manager, accept responsibility for errors or omissions or their | Maria Berndtsson 35-36 consequences. For further information regarding any issue raised herein, please contact our head office in | News from Piraeus 37 Gothenburg. | News from Asia 38 Editorial Advisory Board Maria Berndtsson, Susanne Blomstrand, Hans Filipsson, Henric Gard, Birgitta Hed, | News from Oslo 39 Johan Kahlmeter, Anders Leissner, Lars A. Malm, Lars Rhodin, Tony Schröder, Carola Weidenholm. | Varbergs Fortress 40 Production co-ordinator Susanne Blomstrand. PR-consultant TRS Public Relations Ltd., London. | Out and about 41-42 Layout Eliasson Information, Gothenburg. | Staff news43 Cover photo iStockphoto. | Club quiz 43 Print PR Offset. 1204PR5000B | © The Swedish Club Club calendar 44 Articles or extracts may be quoted provided that The Swedish Club is credited as the source. 2 www.swedishclub.com THE SWEDISH CLUB TRITON 1-2012 Leader | MD Lars Rhodin Exposure has become reality! Dear members and associates, PHOTO: Shipping has been hit by some major casualties Ahlsén Jonas recently. Apart from our own Rena container ship grounding in October last year, the industry saw the Costa Concordia cruise ship capsize in January this year. How can these incidents happen? How can these severe groundings occur? I was asked that question by my children and it was not that easy to answer in Lars Rhodin fact. Yet it looks so banal with a picture of a ship on Managing Director the rocks. Suffice it to say, casualties are rarely the re- sult of a single error. They are, with few exceptions, In underwriting we consider exposure. It is present, the result of concurrency of many circumstances or it is imminent and yet so remote it seems. Risks are through a complex chain of events. Naturally, some- obvious but it’s not uncommon to hear “it will not thing must have gone very wrong on the bridge in happen to us - we have far better systems”. In the both New Zealand and Italy. Expectations in shipping Rena and Costa Concordia cases, exposure has be- are now for even more emphasis being put on bridge come reality. The probability of these casualties is low team management in general and passage planning but when they occur it is a sharp reminder of the risks in particular in future. The need for continuous Mari- involved in shipping. It is necessary to rate exposure time Resource Management training has again been across the entire insurance portfolio. To this end, re- underlined. sponsible underwriting requires every member to Casualty response is a joint effort between ship- play their part. Only then can the underwriting be re- owners and underwriters’ partners in chief. Few garded as sustainable over the longer perspective. responses follow textbook examples on how to pro- The Club saw a volatile claims year in 2011 coupled ceed; they are always subject to change. They often with modest support from investments. The outcome become very challenging, not least from an environ- of the technical account quite significantly deviates mental and political points of view. Our greatest chal- from the actuarial expectation. In 2010 we had the lenge in the Rena case was the lack of response re- opposite experience with virtually every area and sources locally. The ship ran aground in an extremely product working our way. In 2011, we stood the test exposed position in the Bay of Plenty, 12 miles off the and showed resilience in the face of adversity. Under- port of Tauranga. An effective response was also im- writing should be assessed over a longer period in paired by severe weather conditions that occur from terms of volatility. Over the past three years we have time to time, making it too dangerous to continue progressed well in terms of business volumes, results the operation. Yet the response is relentless in its en- and free reserves. We also receive the strongest ap- deavour to carry on despite logistical problems. In my proval endorsement ever which was shown in the view, the owners of the vessel should be commended latest members’ questionnaire. After all, this is what for their devotion, patience and will to constructively really counts moving ahead; sustainability combined deal with the situation in the aftermath of the inci- with excellent services. dent. With best regards, 3 THE SWEDISH CLUB TRITON 1-2012 Marketing & Business Development | State of the Market “140 years old, full of new-born energy and a prosperous future” are well founded and make sense from a business perspective Our office in Oslo has done a tremendous job and has been helped by the good timing of our entry, as well as a need from owners and brokers for fresh, new, local, long-term capacity. Henric Gard At the moment the vast majority of the business underwritten Director, emanates from Scandinavian owners and brokers. Over the next Marketing & Business Development year we intend to carefully explore business based and produced outside Scandinavia, provided of course that the quality and HisTorY is important and most, if not all, companies or or- pricing is in line with our models. ganisations are a product or a reflection of their history. History on the other hand does not tell us much about the future. An Getting the price right (immediately) important differentiator is that companies or organisations that is still the key after 140 years analyse, learn and act on what history teaches us have a better P&I business is generally long-term and the marine market chance of influencing or even creating their future. continues to be a commodity market. Major market claims, like the Costa Concordia, will of course have an impact on current The 101st P&I renewal has just finished rating levels but a major obstacle against a much-needed, firm, At the time of writing we have just finished our 101st P&I re- upward rate correction is overcapacity. The concept of general newal. Every renewal has its own characteristics and every re- increase has never attracted the marine market and probably newal is different, as is this one. In the current freight market never will. It is therefore paramount to get the price right (im- environment where shipowners are struggling, costs such as mediately) as the market is very liquid and the possibility of insurance are naturally being focused on more by owners as well adjusting the pricing over time demands almost magical skills. as managers. It is therefore pleasing to be able to report that Nevertheless, the marine side of our business remains very im- this year’s P&I renewal also ended satisfactorily from the Club’s portant to us and our commitment to further diversify within perspective.