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Global marine insurer North P&I Club has encouraged its members in the UAE & India to prepare early on for changes to the shipping landscape.
Around 80 members of the maritime industry attended a seminar hosted by the insurer on Tuesday, which looked at the key challenges and emerging issues facing the sector.
“The maritime industry has changed considerably over recent years and North P&I Club is no different,” the insurer’s global director of underwriting, Savraj Mehta, said while opening the event.
“We continue to enhance and refine our range of support to meet the requirements of our members in an ever-changing shipping and regulatory landscape,” Mehta said. “Our loss prevention initiatives and seminars are specifically aimed at encouraging our members to prepare early for the likely operational impact of these changes.”
Mark Church, director of FD&D, addressed the USA’s re-imposition of Iran sanctions and said that practical issues would continue to impact on the ability to trade with Iran, “even where the trade is permissible.”
“We encourage members to enforce their own due diligence and assess high-risk areas to avoid non-compliance,” he added.
Alvin Forster, deputy director of loss prevention, gave an overview of the implications of the 2020 sulphur cap.
“This isn’t a simple choice for shipowners,” Forster said. “We want to help our members understand the key issues and support them in making informed decisions on their options for compliance.”
According to the insurer, the sulphur cap will usher in challenges for shipowners and charterers beyond just the technical.
Charterparty provisions will require close attention and this will be particularly pressing when fixing long term charterparties that will span the enforcement date, the firm said in a statement.
“We can assist our members with the potential contractual pitfalls that come with these new rules – we can’t stress enough the importance of preparing for the change now in order to avoid charterparty disputes in the future,” commented Paul Watson, group director of FD&D.
