Somali piracy dilemma over general average treatment of shipowners’ expenses


Major questions over what should count for apportionment were highlighted at the spring seminar in London of the Association of Average Adjusters


Marine average adjusters are at the centre of a conflict on whether shipowners should be compensated for having to stump up thousands of dollars in extra costs when extricating their vessels from the hands of Somali pirates. Although the sum at stake in the incident that has led to the controversy is modest in commercial terms, argument over the principle at issue is about to go all the way to the Supreme Court, the final court of appeal in the UK for civil cases.