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What is general average and could it reach me?
Short answer
A principle from the age of sail still decides who pays after a shared rescue.
It reaches a leisure boat mainly when the boat travels as cargo,
and many yacht wordings say nothing about it at all.
General average is one of the oldest rules in shipping, older than marine insurance itself. The idea is simple: if something is deliberately sacrificed, or an extraordinary expense is deliberately incurred, to save ship and cargo from a common danger, then everyone who benefits contributes in proportion to what was saved. The textbook image is cargo thrown over the side to lighten a ship. The modern version is a tow into a port of refuge, a salvage award, or the cost of discharging and reloading after a grounding. When it is declared, the figures are worked out by an average adjuster under the York Antwerp Rules, and that adjustment can take a very long time.
For a boat on the south coast or in the Dutch canals this sounds remote, and mostly it is. It stops being remote the moment the boat stops travelling on her own bottom. Shipping a yacht to the Mediterranean or across to the Caribbean on a transport ship, or as deck cargo on a liner, turns her into cargo like any other, and cargo contributes. If general average is declared on that voyage, the boat is drawn in at her value, and the release of cargo at the far end can be made to depend on a general average bond and a guarantee being put up first. Owners rarely expect a demand for security on a boat that was never damaged.
So the practical work happens before the transport, not after it. Read the bill of lading and see what the carrier has reserved for itself. Ask the carrier what their own arrangements are for cargo interests. Then take your own wording and put the question in writing: does it mention a contribution to general average and salvage charges, and is there a limit on it. Many leisure wordings are silent on the point, which is not the same as a refusal but is worth knowing before rather than after. Keep a current valuation with the papers, because the contribution is calculated on value, and a figure nobody can evidence is a figure somebody else will choose.
Worth remembering
One sacrifice
is made by one for the benefit of all
Every interest
then pays a share of it
A rule written for sailing ships, and it reaches a yacht mainly when the yacht travels as cargo.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
When can general average actually affect a leisure boat?
Above all when the boat is shipped as cargo, on a yacht transport ship or as deck cargo. Under her own power the case is very rare for leisure craft, though a tow into a port of refuge can raise related questions.
What is a general average bond?
A written undertaking to pay whatever share the adjustment eventually puts on your interest, usually backed by a guarantee. Cargo can be held until it is given, so it is asked for long before anyone knows the final figure.
What should I ask before shipping the boat?
Three things in writing: what the bill of lading says, what the carrier expects from cargo interests, and whether your own wording deals with a contribution to general average and salvage charges at all.
Related
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