OREANDA-NEWS. July 05, 2012. Ingosstrakh Insurance Company has paid an insurance indemnity in the amount of over USD 4.5 mln in connection with the destruction of Tanya Karpinskaya motor vessel in the port of Eastern Niigata (Honshu island, Japan).

Tanya Karpinskaya motor vessel was insured by Ingosstrakh Insurance Company against vessel owners liability risks. On February 7, 2012, the motor vessel loaded with metal scrape, collided with the Kota Duta container carrier near the Japanese port of Eastern Niigata. As a result of the collision, the vessel’s body was significantly damaged, and it sank in dangerous proximity to the ship channel. All the 18 crew members, including the captain, were successfully evacuated from the sinking vessel and transported to shore.

In order to control the situation and protect the interests of the insured, Ingosstrakh Insurance Company engaged a local representative in Japan, as well as attorneys and independent surveyors. Upon the initiative of Ingosstrakh Insurance Company, the work was also joined by independent experts from ITOPF (International Tankers Owners Pollution Federation), which was to evaluate the scale of pollution and danger to the environment in connection with spillage of oil products from the fuel tanks of Tanya Karpinskaya motor vessel.

Ingosstrakh Insurance Company and the vessel owner put joint efforts to take measures and install barrage bars around the vessel to prevent the oil slick from spreading, and also organized the works to clean the shoreline and port constructions from the spilled oil products. Quick and coordinated efforts of the process participants on the first days after the vessel sank enabled localization of the source of pollution and prevention of an environmental disaster. Besides, Ingosstrakh Insurance Company promptly organized and financed a very complicated operation to pump off the fuel, remaining on board, and lift the vessel that sank and its cargo to the surface. On May 9 of the current year, Tanya Karpinskaya motor vessel was successfully put on even keel and tugged to the nearest shipyard to be scraped.

Ingosstrakh Insurance Company has paid over USD 4.5 mln in connection with the sinking of Tanya Karpinskaya motor vessel. At present, the insurance company is considering the financial claims which the insured received from the transported cargo owners and port authorities. The decisions on these losses will be made upon provision of all the documents required.

“Operations related to elimination of the consequences of sinking are among the most expensive and labor-intense, and they often involve great risk of environmental pollution,” comments Alexey Kasatikov, Deputy Head of Department for Settlement of Losses Related to Special Risks Insurance in Ingosstrakh Insurance Company. “Any delay in decision-making may result in an environmental disaster. In such cases an insurance company must help its customer and take control over the case, as was the case in the situation with Tanya Karpinskaya motor vessel.”