Consequences

“Catastrophe” is a word that keeps cropping up when people talk about this incident. At first, that seems a bit extreme, for no-one died, no one was injured and, whatever the damage to the yacht, she was able to motor away from the scene.

Superyacht captains are, however, incensed at the damage they feel has been caused to their profession’s reputation, which has, hitherto, been relatively unsullied.

Asked what he would have done, one said “Not knowing the exact circumstances, but if caught in these conditions, I would have started the engines and steamed up to the anchor using the bow thruster as necessary - but we don't know when they noticed the yacht was dragging, or whether they were obstructed in the manouvre by other yachts at anchor. Whatever, the windage on the hull, if beam to the wind gusts, would have made things very difficult and, possibly, they didn't think that steaming out stern first might have been the only option? However, this doesn't get away from the fact that there was a major balls-up somewhere along the line, resulting in this catastrophic scenario.”

Again the use of that word “catastrophe”, so what are the consequences likely to be? BYM asked shipping expert Andrew Craig-Bennett to comment. He told us:

The grounding of the super-sloop "Mirabella V" will have an impact on the insurance market for superyachts. With insured values in line with those of merchant ships, superyachts are usually placed on the regular marine insurance markets, but using yacht terms, suitably amended.

All underwriters dislike this sort of incident - the cost of damage to high tech materials can be very difficult to assess, and the time required for repairs can be equally hard to ascertain. Most superyachts carry Loss of Hire cover as well as hull and machinery cover, typically for 90 days under repair in excess of the first 14 days, and this policy will be hard hit as well as the Particular Average claim on the hull and machinery policy. Since this will have been ceded to reinsurance, the whole yacht market will be paying its share, and it is a pretty safe guess that reinsurers of what has been a singuarly risk-free class of business, up to now, will be revising their premium ideas in an upwards direction across the board. Since the marine insurance and reinsurance markets have consolidated to a great extent, there is every likelihood that reinsurers will be able to make their rate increases stick over the next 12 months.”

Even if damage to Mirabella is not as great as was first feared, insurance companies must, surely, start taking take far more interest in verifying that owners and management companies have met all required parameters.

Another thing that those in the industry fear is that the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency will become harsher, across the board, in future assessments of qualifications, construction, safety, security and compliance. An MCA spokesman told BYM that no comment was possible, as the yacht is under Isle of Man jurisdiction and authorities there are conducting an investigation.

Perhaps “catastrophe” is a little too strong, but the result of this incident is likely to be higher insurance premiums, more paperwork and, perhaps, a reappraisal of crew qualifications, especially for sailing vessels, which are already losing ground to the motor sector.

The real impact will not be known until we have more facts, though many express doubts about whether the real facts will ever be known. What is certain is that there are still many unanswered questions. Read on .......

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