Egypt: Insurance federation studies serious marine accidents globally
Source: Middle East Insurance Review | Sep 2023
The marine insurance committee of the Insurance Federation of Egypt (IFE) is studying serious marine accidents globally with the intention of drawing lessons from them.
In its latest weekly bulletin, the IFE said that among the issues being studied are fires on board ships and the insurance implications. Fire is one of the most common marine accidents, whether in terms of frequency or severity.
The IFE said, “Despite the seriousness of land fires, whether in terms of their destructive capacity or spread, fire at sea is more complex, as the process of extinguishing the fire involves an additional risk that reduces the ship’s buoyancy and threatens its stability because of the extra load of the water on board.”
The federation said that fighting fire on ships depends on factors, including – but not limited to – the vessel’s tonnage; size and weight; the design and layout of the ship; the distribution of holds and partitions, cargo tonnage; the nature of the cargo; where the fire takes place – whether in the holds or on the deck; in addition to the height of the superstructure above the deck of the ship; the amount of fuel in its tanks; and ballast water that is used to adjust the ship’s balance and buoyancy if the ship is empty or partially empty.
Fire coverage also includes coverage of any damage to ships, containers and cargo, due to fire-fighting.
The IFE said, “What is not covered is fire arising from one of the excluded risks, such as an innate defect or incidents like self-ignition or war (unless covered by an additional war risk policy).” M