The Shipowners’ Club, a Protection & Indemnity insurer has launched a new simplified, All Risk Policy specifically aimed at yachts. The new policy is designed to simplify liability insurance cover for yacht owners and operators worldwide. The group seeks to de-mystify aspects of the traditional wording contained in typical P&I insurance Rules and make the conditions understandable to non-specialist yachtsmen and brokers.
Conventional yacht insurance policies offered by both general commercial insurers and P&I clubs have traditionally, featured complex wording using legal and maritime jargon, which can be difficult to understand for anyone who is not a specialist in marine insurance.
The Shipowners´ Club is a mutual marine liability insurer and has been providing insurance to small vessels since 1855 and currently insurers almost 29,000 vessels from 5,624 Members worldwide.
Ian Ferns, Research and Development Manager of Shipowners’ explains how the Club has tackled this problem. He said, “Our new policy document, running to just 2,000 words instead of the original 40,000, takes a common-sense approach to losses and liabilities and has very few excluded risks; the assumption being that everything is covered unless the policy states specifically that it is not. The policy aims to be all-embracing, making it much easier for brokers to recommend it to a client as a single package, rather than having to put together a variety of separate types of cover”.
A number of new features which will make the policy attractive to yacht owners; all-risk water sports cover, including what are sometimes perceived as risky pursuits such as water-skiing, jet-skiing and diving; greatly relaxed voyage restrictions in many regions of the world and cover for sailing yachts participating in organised races.
The policy can also be extended to include personal accident cover for crew, whatever their employment status or nationality.
The Shipowners’ Club hope that their new wording will appeal to areas of the yacht market that have previously found the P&I world a bit of a mystery such as the brokers who are not marine specialists but have yacht owners, fleet managers or agents as clients and wish to offer them uncomplicated, all-risk liability cover.
Ferns explains the Club’s strategy, “We knew that we had to adjust and simplify our traditional Rules if we were to be successful in attracting more business from the wider market. We spent a lot of time with our existing clients and brokers, discussing what they would like to see in a truly comprehensive liability policy. As a result I think we have come up with an extensive cover that is based on common sense, has far fewer restrictions, is easy to understand, and will appeal to the majority of yacht owners and their brokers.”
Members of the International Group of P&I Clubs the Club has branches located in Luxembourg, London, Singapore and Vancouver.
As a lawyer who has at one point stood in court for a child injured at day care attorney, I can pretty much say that the policy laid out here is quite reasonable and fair enough.
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