Chartering a vessel exposes a company to many of the same liabilities faced by shipowners – and several that are unique to the charterer’s position. A charterer may find itself liable for injury to crew and third parties, for damage to cargo, for pollution, for damage to the ship itself and for a wide range of contractual claims, often in jurisdictions far from home and under legal systems it does not know. Yet many charterers trade with fragmented or incomplete insurance arrangements, discovering the gaps only when a claim arrives. Our Charterers Insurance Cover has been developed to close those gaps: a single, streamlined liability solution built on decades of marine insurance experience.
Combined Cover, Efficient Protection
The Ship Owner Marine Insurance club provides cover on the basis of a combined liability approach, bringing together in one policy the full range of a charterer’s exposures: liability to seamen, covering injury, illness and loss of life claims involving crew members and other persons on board; damage to property, covering liability for damage to docks, terminals, port installations and other third-party property; removal of wreck, covering the charterer’s exposure to wreck removal costs and related liabilities; and cargo liability, pollution liability, collision liability and many other heads of cover essential to a charterer’s operations. By combining these risks under a single entry, we are able to offer more efficient third-party liability cover – one policy, one renewal, one premium and one point of contact, with no gaps and no overlaps between separate insurances.
Defence
Alongside liability cover, charterers benefit from access to our Defence service: expert legal support and cover for legal costs in pursuing or defending claims arising out of the charter. Charterparty disputes are a fact of commercial life – speed and performance claims, off-hire disputes, laytime and demurrage disagreements – and the cost of fighting them can be substantial. With Defence cover in place, the Member can pursue its rights on the merits of the case, with the club’s in-house lawyers and a global network of maritime specialists behind it at every stage.
Tailored to Your Trade
No two charterers are alike. A trading house moving bulk cargoes, an industrial group chartering tonnage for its own products, and a liner operator taking slots on third-party vessels all face very different risk profiles. Our underwriters take the time to understand your business – the ships you charter, the cargoes you move, the charterparty forms you use and the trades you serve – and structure limits, deductibles and extensions accordingly. As your business changes, your cover changes with it.
Why Choose Us
Cover tailored to the specific trade, cargo and charterparty terms of each Member. Competitive, flexible limits of liability suitable for everything from single-voyage charters to large annual programmes. A global claims network available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. And underwriters who understand the commercial realities of chartering, because they have spent their careers in the market.
Why Work With Us
As a specialist marine insurance provider, we combine deep technical knowledge with a genuinely commercial outlook. Our Members benefit from competitive and transparent terms, cover that is tailored to their actual trading pattern rather than a one-size-fits-all wording, and a team that is available around the clock, every day of the year. We measure our success not by the policies we issue, but by the problems we solve for our Members – quickly, quietly and cost-effectively.
Get in Touch
If you would like to learn more about our Charterers Insurance Cover, request a quotation, or simply discuss your current insurance arrangements with an expert, our underwriting team would be delighted to hear from you. Contact us today by phone or e-mail, or complete the enquiry form on our contact page, and one of our specialists will come back to you within one business day. There is no obligation, and every enquiry is handled in strict confidence.