Inherent vice and perils of the seas: Supreme Court finalises their scope

In Global Process Systems Inc v Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad ('The Cendor MOPU') [2011] UKSC 5, the Supreme Court dealt with the interpretation of the 'inherent vice' exclusion and in so doing widened the scope of the concept of 'perils of the sea'. The court held that the exclusion would not apply where the result of weather and sea conditions - albeit they are foreseeable and ordinary - are fortuitous

Delay in marine insurance law

Delay in marine adventure is an important and frequent phenomenon of maritime transport and it affects various parties and their interests under several types of marine insurance policies, including but not limited to hull and machinery, cargo, freight and loss of hire. Losses arising from delay are almost always excluded under the standard forms of these policies and under the Marine Insurance Act 1906 (MIA). This thesis traces back the common law origins of the exclusion, identifies the motivations behind the exclusion and submits that the risk of delay and some types of losses arising therefrom were not always excluded under the common law. By introducing distinctions among the types of delay, the work argues that the judgments in favour of the exclusion of delay losses shall be interpreted according to the type of delay and shall not be authority for all types of delay. The findings of the work accordingly clarify and considerably restrict the scope of the exclusion. The thesis also tackles the MIA provisions pertaining to the impact of delay on voyage policies. It argues that the relevant provisions are not clear and do not entirely reflect their common law background.On the ground that they have not been litigated since the enactment of the MIA, the research assesses whether they are obsolete and proposes that the provisions should be retained subject to reforms

ABS held not liable to Spain by US court

In Reino de Espana v The American Bureau of Shipping Inc 03 Civ 3573, the Court addressed the thorny issue of the liability of classification societies and declined to hold the American Bureau of Shipping liable for the damage caused by Prestige at its sinking in 2002

Freezing injunction against IOPC Fund

Assuranceforeningen Gard Gjensidig v The International OilPollution Compensation Fund [2014] EWHC 1394 (Comm): Oil pollution – P&I Club – International Oil Pollution Convention Fund – Freezing injunction – Fund’s immunity from freezing injunctio

Response to the Green Paper on the insurance of natural and man-made disasters, issued Strasbourg, 16.4.2013, COM(2013) 213 final

The response of the Insurance Law Research Group at the University of Southampton to the EU Consultation on the Green Paper on the Insurance of Natural and Man-made Disasters