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Wreck removal: who orders it and who pays for it
Short answer
A sunk or burnt out boat does not end the loss, it starts a second one. Harbour and navigation authorities can order removal from the owner, and lifting, transport and disposal are three trades with three separate bills.
A total loss is where the second job begins. Harbour authorities, navigation authorities and canal trusts in the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands hold statutory powers to remove a vessel that obstructs or endangers navigation, and they use them against the registered owner. Ignore the notice and the authority carries out the work itself and sends the bill afterwards. Three trades are involved and each is priced separately: lifting the hull, moving it by road or barge, and breaking it up. What the total comes to depends on depth, access, the weight of the hull and whether fuel or oil has escaped into the water.
Disposal is a trade in its own right and the part owners underestimate. A glass fibre hull has to be cut up and sent for thermal recovery, antifouling coatings count as hazardous waste, and tanks, gas bottles and batteries are all handled separately, which is why yards that do this work price by weight and hull material. If fuel or oil has reached the water, the clean up follows its own tariff and can cost more than the lifting did. Ask for a written quotation covering all three stages rather than a rate per tonne, because the extras are where the figure moves.
One line in a hull wording decides how much of this the owner carries. Some contracts pay removal in addition to the sum insured, others take it out of the same amount, and the difference is whatever is left towards a replacement boat. Check that sentence in every quotation you compare. With us, removal ordered by an authority is paid in addition to the indemnity: up to the sum insured in Basis, 1 million euros in Basis Plus and 2.5 million euros in Premium. Two things sit outside any contract. Getting rid of a boat you simply no longer want is not a claim, it is a bill, and on an old glass fibre hull it can come to more than the boat is worth. And an abandoned hull stays the owner's responsibility for escaping fuel, for sinking at its berth and for damage to the boat alongside, so keep liability cover in force until the hull is broken up and the registration cancelled, and keep the disposal certificate.
Worth remembering
Three trades
lift it, haul it, break it up
One sentence
decides who carries them
Removal paid on top of the sum insured still leaves a replacement boat. Removal taken out of it does not.
Questions
What owners ask us about this
Must I have my sunk boat removed?
Usually yes. A harbour or navigation authority can order removal from the owner where the wreck obstructs or endangers navigation, and if nothing happens it carries out the work itself and recovers the cost.
What drives the cost of disposal?
Weight and hull material above all. Glass fibre has to be cut up and thermally recovered, antifouling counts as hazardous waste, and fuel or oil in the water adds a clean up bill with a tariff of its own.
Which line should I look for in the wording?
Whether removal and disposal are paid in addition to the sum insured or deducted from it. Deducted, they come straight out of the money that would otherwise go towards a replacement boat.
Can I just leave the boat where it is?
Not safely. While you are the owner you answer for escaping fuel, for the hull sinking at its berth and for damage to the boat alongside, so liability cover belongs in force until the boat is scrapped and deregistered.
Related
Not sure whether you qualify?
Whether it is “Wreck removal: who orders it and who pays for it” 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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