PHANTOM SHIPS
September 1st, 2002
BY MONICA DOBIEUNDERWRITERS in Hong Kong have set a precedent by invoking a law for the first time that dates back to 1906, to avoid paying a claim on cargo that disappeared in the high seas aboard a phantom ship.Section 44 of the Marine Insurance Act (MIA), a law replicated in many Commonwealth countries, says that insurers are not liable if a shipping line has no intention from the outset of taking the cargo on its contracted voyage. It was used to defeat the policy claims of the owner of missing palm oil cargo worth US$2.5 million put aboard the merchant ...
Full access to this article can be arranged with permission from the client that first ordered it. Please contact us to request access. Entries are uploaded to our archive at least one year after being published by a client – free access is restricted to International News Services journalists for background research only. The article date indicates when copy was filed to a client, not when posted to this archive. Upon client requests, International News Services will remove such articles from the archive or not upload them in the first place. They are included to demonstrate the breadth of topics undertaken by the agency and also to help promote clients’ coverage.