Insurers brace for multi-million-dollar claims as Maersk Honam is towed to port

/insurers-brace-multi-million-dollar-cla

  • Major Fire on Ultra-Large Containership Maersk Honam in Arabian Sea, Situation ’Critical’ – gCaptain
    http://gcaptain.com/major-fire-on-ultra-large-containership-maersk-honam-arabian-sea

    An ultra-large containership belonging to container shipping giant Maersk has suffered what is being described as a ‘serious fire’ in one of its cargo holds in the Arabian Sea.

    According to an emailed statement from Maersk Line, the MV Maersk Honam reported a serious fire in a cargo hold on Tuesday 6 March 2018 at 15:20 GMT while enroute from Singapore towards Suez, Egypt. 

    Four crew members are missing.
    […]
    The ship is reported to be carrying 7,860 containers.
    […]
    The Maersk Honam was built in 2017 and has a nominal capacity of 15,262 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent unit). It sails under the Singapore flag.

    The nationalities of the 27 crew members are: India (13), the Phillipines (9), Romania (1), South Africa (1), Thailand (2) and the United Kingdom (1).

    • Insurers brace for multi-million-dollar claims as Maersk Honam is towed to port - The Loadstar
      https://theloadstar.co.uk/insurers-brace-multi-million-dollar-claims-maersk-honam-towed-port

      The insurance industry is bracing itself for hundreds of millions of dollars of claims from the biggest container vessel casualty to date – but some shippers will not have been insured.

      A Maersk spokesman told The Loadstar today no decision had yet been reached on the port of destination for the fire-damaged 15,262 teu Maersk Honam.
      […]
      The 2017-built Maersk Honam caught fire on 6 March in the Arabian Sea en route to the Mediterranean, via Suez, claiming the lives of four seafarers with a further crew member presumed to be lost.

      According to the Indian coastguard pictures, hundreds of containers in the fore section of the ULCV would seem to be a total loss, but boxes stowed behind the superstructure and in the aft section appear intact.
      […]
      Meanwhile, for cargo that was insured, marine reinsurance branches will be expecting an avalanche of claims for this latest containership casualty.

      Insurers have for some time expressed their concerns about their exposure in the event of a major ULCV casualty. In the case of the 8,110 teu MOL Comfort which broke its back off the coast of Yemen in 2008, resulting in a total loss of the ship and its 4,380 containers, the insured cargo loss alone was reported at some $300m.

      Marine insurers typically calculate their average exposure per box at between $50,000-$100,000, but it was reported that amounts lost from the MOL Comfort were considerably higher, and there have been instances recorded by marine insurers where the value of a single pallet packed in a container has exceeded $1m.