Shortcuts, smokescreens, spinnage … you name it. The maritime industry is in denial. In his reports from the Far East, however, David Hughes lets us in on some of the real problems.

“If a general recovery materializes this year, it will be slow and painful, according to marine insurers meeting in London this week. International Union of Marine Insurers (IUMI) president Deirdre Littlefield told journalists that underwriters were braced to tackle new problems which were emerging as a result of the slump. Ms. Littlefield was speaking after IUMI’s annual meeting at Lloyd’s.

“She said: ‘Newbuild cancellations and deferments are increasing, but a huge amount of tonnage still is due to be delivered this year and next. Regrettably, we have not seen a significant leap in the scrapping of old ships, which is almost beyond belief in the present crisis.’ She continued: ‘Understandably, owners and charterers are doing all they can to reduce costs. If this means skimped maintenance and deferred repairs, however, it’s bad news for insurers who will cover hull, cargo and liability risks. The situation is compounded by the emergence of new problems. These are mainly technical but could lead to big headaches for underwriters.'”

New problems? David Hughes highlighted some of them in a second article posted on the same day.

“IUMI’s Lay-Up Warning” is the way he introduced his second report.

“The International Union of Marine Insurance’s (IUMI’s) executive committee has warned of the dangers associated with laying up ships and noted the death of a seafarer on a laid up vessel.

“An IUMI statement says: ‘It has been reported that a containership laid up off Hong Kong during Typhoon Koppu in September 2009 experienced violent rolling resulting in one crew fatality and at least $ 250,000 of damages.’

“The insurers also noted that BMT Offshore Surveys estimates there are 150 to 200 ships lying in non-designated anchorages (outside port limits) along the Straits of Malacca and Singapore.

“IUMI cautions: ‘Underwriters need to pay close attention to the various degrees of lay-up we are seeing, including the conditions of cover for vessels which have been idle without being deactivated, or just lying at anchor or drifting awaiting firm orders, often with minimum maintenance and prone to collision or typhoon damage.’

“Cold lay-ups (six months or more) can produce huge problems according to IUMI. The bigger the ship, the bigger the problems, it says. ‘Many things can go wrong during lay-up and reactivation. For instance, how do you reactivate a dead ship without the computers working?'”

[Like we said in last week’s Article 10: Those ships are “… put in mothballs … never to sail again.”]