It is noted that the trading area is stated as follows on some H&M policies provided by Chinese hull insurers: “Worldwide but subject to Institute Warranties 1.7.76 and Current Market War Risk Trading Warranties and Exclusions”.
Normally the Chinese hull insurers will also provide the war risk (H&M) cover to the assured free of charge. They usually combine these two policies into one. Therefore the insurers state the above wordings in the trading area column on their hull policy.According to the above policy wordings, assureds are required to notify the hull insurers in advance if the vessel trades to the ice zone or war zone. Additional premium / terms may be required in order to maintain the H&M cover in these areas.
Unfortunately, if the shipowners place the war risk insurance cover with other insurers such as Lloyd’s Market, and so they forget to inform the hull insurers that the vessel is trading to war zone, it will create a huge problem to the shipowners because the shipowners will lose their ordinary hull cover if the vessel trades to the war zone.
Therefore, we would suggest shipowners to check with their hull insurers if they could amend the wordings in trading area column to “Worldwide but subject to Institute Warranties 1.7.76” in order to avoid this potential loss of hull cover. In any event whether the war risks is insured with PICC or in London market, for clarity and to avoid insurers taking advantage of a breach of war risk cover to avoid paying a claim under the marine cover, an additional wording in the policy should be included, the war risk cover is deemed a separate policy of insurance to the marine policy and a breach of policy conditions or warranties in the one policy does not prejudice or affect in any way the other policy.
Should you have any enquiry, please feel free to contact with us.
See attached file : ALCO Circular 20110019 Shipowner should be careful to the wordings.pdf
船东需注意国内保险公司船壳险保单下航区的用词
我们注意到国内保险公司在船壳险保单航区这一项上会使用以下用词：”全球范围内，但遇有驶入冰区或战争区域航行时须事先通知本公司。”
一般而言国内船壳险的保险公司都会赠送战争险（船壳）的保单，并将船壳以及战争险（船壳）的保单合并在一份保单内。因此，保险公司都会在船壳险保单的航区一栏内使用上述用词。 按照以上用词，被保险人需要在船舶驶入冰区或战区之前通知保险人。保险人或征收额外保费以使船壳险保单在上述地区仍然有效。
但是，如果船东从其他保险公司处购买了战争险保单，例如劳氏市场，船东有可能忘记通知其船壳险的保险公司该船会驶入战区。对于船东而言，这会产生很大的问题，因为船舶一旦驶入战区，船舶将会失去它原有的船壳险保障。
因此，我们建议船东与其船壳险保险公司核实，是否可以将航区一栏的用词修改为”全球范围内，但遇有驶入冰区须事先通知本公司”，以避免因此使船壳险保单失效的可能性。无论船东的战争险是在中人保购买还是在劳氏市场购买，为了条文的清楚明白，我们建议在保单内加入以下条文：「战争险是水险保单外一份独立的保单，对于战争险/水险保单条款条件或保证的违反，并不会影响另一份保单的效力」，这样能避免保险公司利用船东违反战争险的约定而不赔付本因在水险下承保的索赔。
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