24/01/2012
A brief analysis and comparision of the London ICC cargo clauses aimed at West African importers / traders / charterers of bagged rice
Wim Swiggers
Introduction
The following is a general overview of the Transport Insurance Covers as available on the London Market, namely the Institute Cargo Clauses (ICC): (A) & (B) & (C).
The distinction between these Insurance Covers, is the Perils insured against, and before we detail the three (3) possible ICC Covers, we need to briefly discuss in general, the nature of Insurance Covers.
A Contract of Insurance is in fact a Contract of Chance. What is insured against is namely the occurrence of a possible, uncertain and future event of harm, read in casu: damages and / or losses of Cargo due to an external cause.
Thus, if a future occurring damage and / or loss is a certainty and inevitable, no Insurance Claim for said damages and / or losses can be entered rightfully.
For example: Cargo shipped of which its properties and / or nature do not allow a voyage and / or manipulation, i.e. lashing and / or stowing.
An in casu important nuance can be made with regards to bags used for shipping rice, and tearing of the same.
At first such a tearing can be viewed as an uncertain, future event, but when later on the used bags are examined, it may become apparent that such a tearing of used bags was an inevitable event due to inferior quality of said bags. In such a case, no Insurance Claim can be entered on the Insurance Cover, and no Recovery Claim can be entered with the Carrier, as improper packing is also an exclusion ground under the Hague- Visby Rules (Art. 4, 2, n)
(more…)
Dossier: Cargo Assurance, Affrètement, Droit maritime
Pas de Commentaire
