Chris Richmond, a marine insurer shed some light regarding the insurable interests in shipping in an article published in WorkBoat.
He opens the argument by pointing out who actually owns the shipyard, building, ship, truck, toolbox, or other things that need insurance? We’re talking about “insurable interest.”
The Owner Named in the Insurance Policy
In basic terms, this means the named owner. The real owner is identified as the named insured on an insurance policy. Sometimes there is an owner in the name of one company but another company (an operations company) actually runs the business. Often, the owner of both entities is the same. Also, that same business owner often doesn’t identify all of the entities he or she has set up. This can become a serious problem when a claim arises. If the actual legal owner of the property is other than what’s shown on an insurance policy, the policy may not respond because there is no “insurable interest” for the person or entity on the policy. In cases like these, it is likely that the claim will be denied. In other words, if a company or entity is not named on an insurance policy, it is highly likely there is no coverage.
What happens when the owner’s name is wrong?
A shipyard had a claim where the named insured on the insurance policy was the operating company but not the actual owner of the property. The bank holding the mortgage had accepted proof of insurance that showed the wrong name for the property owner. There was a devastating fire. When the insurance company’s claims adjuster arrived, he asked who the owner was. When the company owner named the actual company that owned the property, the claims adjuster said he didn’t see that entity named anywhere on the insurance policy. Technically, both the owner and bank were out of luck. After some heavy negotiating, which included pointing out that the owners of both entities were the same, the insurer relented and agreed to pay the claim.
When doing an insurance review, the first topic we discuss is the named insured. We ask if there are any other entities operating that are not listed. As always, the time to have this discussion is before there is a claim.
The same goes for vessels. Many vessel owners list each vessel in a separate company. Send the vessel’s certificate of documentation to your insurance agent to make sure the actual owner of the vessel is listed correctly on the insurance policy.
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Source: WorkBoat
