Ship Management : Tuesday 3rd October

09.00 - 09.10 Stuart Munro - ITIM

Setting the Pace

The ship management seminar has been designed to incorporate a range of issues that either ITIC has seen over the last few years, as well as the particular problems that have been raised by the ship managers we have visited.

First of all you have got to listen to me talk about designated persons — insurance or not. I have had a lot of discussion with managers and their brokers about whether individual designated persons should have a separate insurance. This issue will be dealt with shortly.

The gentleman speaking after me needs no introduction. Herry Lawford, who is now the Service Director of Thomas Miller P&I will talk on the implications of splitting crew and owners’ P&I insurance. We have seen a number of incidents in the last few years where this split of insurance cover has exposed large gaps in cover which has meant that either the manager and/or the owner having to pay out for crew claims when uninsured.

After Herry, Chris Hilton speaks about ship management contracts in relation to crew. All too often, the management contract used is not appropriate to the way the crew are employed. For instance they may use a "Shipman 98" contract to supply crew, which is as an agent, but in fact the manager may be supplying crew on a lump sum basis and will be deemed to be the employer. Clearly, the "Shipman 98" is not the right contract. Chris will talk on that further.

After coffee, Peter Martyr of Norton Rose will be talking about ship manager’s liabilities. It is always nice for someone else to spread doom and gloom about what you are potential liabilities are as ship managers. After that (and time permitting), we are going to discuss a number of actual claim examples before lunch and will actively seek your participation, even if it is to express your disgust at the type of claims made against managers.

After lunch, Michael Chalos is going to talk about the criminalisation of maritime accidents along with C.J. Parker of the Nautical Institute. It is clear that both in the United States and Europe, any high profile casualty may result in criminal proceedings against the master, the ship owner, the ship manager and anyone else who is involved in the operation of the ship. Michael Chalos knows more about this than most as he was involved with the defence of the master of the EXXON VALDEZ.

Andrew Preston of Clyde & Co., will be talking about collecting outstanding debts. This is an ongoing issue. It is difficult collecting debts when ships trade in so many jurisdictions, however, Clyde & Co are well-known for their direct approach, and so we thought it appropriate that Andrew should talk on this issue. After that, at 3.15 Dirk Fry, the Managing Director of Columbia Shipmanagement and also a Director of ITIC is going to ask the perennial question as to why managers are not paid more for the service they offer. It is more than just about competition and any input from the floor would be much appreciated as you are all in this business.

After tea, we are going to be focusing on the Internet and ship management. The following people will be talking David Patraika of the Nautical Institute, Carl Jeffrey of Compuship and Mark Stokes from Onesea.com and Jonathon Elder of Setfair.com. This will be of particular interest as a number of managers of course are involved in similar activities.