OREANDA-NEWS. February 07, 2011. The Agios Vartholomeos motor vessel, insured with Ingosstrakh OJSIC under the ship-owners’ liability insurance policy, made a lean-on on the land crane and the port pier. The incident happened during mooring operations in the port of Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

The initial sum of the claim, put to the ship-owner by the local port authorities, amounted to about USD 5.3 mln.

To establish all the circumstances of the case and provide due defense to the shipo-wner’s rights, Ingosstrakh OJSIC involved independent technical experts, a P&I correspondent and qualified lawyers. As a result of long-term negotiations with the port authorities, the sum of claim was reduced to USD 4.2 mln, and the issue of a bank guarantee was arranged by Ingosstrakh OJSIC to release the vessel from arrest.

Further on, tenders were held to evaluate the repair works of the land pier and crane, and also numerous negotiations with the port authorities, devoted to peaceful claim settlement. The final sum of the peaceful settlement, coordinated by all the parties, amounted to about USD 3.2 mln, which was, upon the ship-owner’s request, directly transferred by Ingosstrakh OJSIC, to the claimant.

“In a number of cases, upon the insured’s request, the company makes direct insurance payments to third parties in cases of claims settlement, which allows the ship-owner to avoid withdrawal of own capital from the turnover of the shipping company. This is especially important for customers when insurance cases occur,” Alexey Kasatikov, Deputy Head of Special Risks Insurance Losses Management Department of Ingosstrakh OJSIC said.