Class II Liability

Stowaways

Two stowaways are found in a container on board a vessel chartered to the Assured, in a US discharge port. The owners incur costs of around $45,000 for each stowaway in providing secure accommodation during the investigation and repatriation process, investigations by local experts into the stowaways' origins, applications by those experts to the relevant Embassy for repatriation and flying the stowaways home under armed guard. The charterparty contains the BIMCO stowaway clause, making the charterers liable to indemnify the owners for all these costs (the stowaways having gained access to the vessel in the cargo, rather than due to lax security by the vessel).

Under Clause II Section 14 of the Club’s Terms and Conditions, the Assured is able to make a recovery from the Club in respect of the $90,000 paid to the owners.