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Who pays for the boom around your own boat?
Short answer
When a boat goes down with fuel aboard, a boom goes round it within the hour. Who ends up paying is one of the least settled lines in the wordings we reviewed, because a hull wording and a liability wording each point at the other one.
A boat sinks on its mooring with a full tank, and the first thing that happens is not a lift. It is a boom, laid round the hull so that diesel does not travel across the basin on the tide. In a British harbour the harbour master will order it under the harbour byelaws; in the Netherlands the waterway authority or the marina does the same thing without asking; in a Mediterranean port the captaincy makes the call. Nobody waits for an insurer, and nobody should, because a slick reaching a neighbouring pontoon turns one loss into twenty. The cost arrives within the hour, and it is rarely small.
Then the argument starts, and it is structural rather than personal. Hull wordings tend to describe what they will do with the vessel: raise it, remove it, dispose of it, destroy the wreck. A good many go on to exclude pollution of water, soil, air and wildlife in the same breath, which is exactly what a containment boom deals with. A liability wording, on the other hand, exists to answer claims other people make against you, so it looks for a third party with an invoice. A boom that you or the marina laid around your own boat before anyone had made a claim is neither of those things. Where the discussion usually lands is the sue and labour clause, the part of a marine wording that deals with reasonable steps taken to avert or reduce a loss, and that clause is worded differently in every book.
Two things are worth doing, and only one of them helps after the event. Before the season, ask the broker in writing which clause a boom around your own hull is paid from, and get the clause number rather than the sentence that it is a liability matter, because that sentence is the one that comes apart at the worst moment. Then, on the day, make the call before anyone is instructed: a step agreed with the insurer stands on far better ground than the same step taken alone, and it costs one phone call. Keep the harbour master's order, the contractor's docket and the invoice together. If the authority did the work and then billed you, that bill is a third party claim and belongs in a different file from the lift.
Worth remembering
Hull wordings
often exclude pollution in the same clause
Liability wordings
answer other people, not your own precaution
The boom around your own hull falls between two books. Ask which clause pays for it long before it is laid.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Does the liability side not pay for the boom?
A liability wording answers claims brought by others, for instance the invoice a harbour authority sends after cleaning up. A precaution you arranged yourself, before anyone claimed anything, is a different question and sits in a different clause.
What helps most in the first hour?
One phone call before anyone is instructed, then written confirmation of what was agreed. A step taken with the insurer's knowledge is far easier to recover than the same step taken alone and explained three weeks later.
What should I ask before the season starts?
Ask which clause number pays for containment around your own hull, and ask for the answer in writing. An answer that only says the liability section deals with it does not survive the day it is needed.
Related
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Whether it is “Who pays for the boom around your own boat?” or another question: send us your residence and the flag your boat flies. You will get a straight answer in one email; including a no, if that is the answer.
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