Based on the letter dated 16.11.2022 and numbered E-19463099-199-779495 received from the General Directorate of Maritime Affairs, as it is known, shipowners take out Protection and Indemnity (P&I) insurance in order to cover the damages that may be caused to third parties, the environment or the cargo during the operations of their ships, along with the related penalties and responsibilities in such cases. P&I insurance is a necessity for ships of some types and tonnage in accordance with international conventions, and ships of certain types and tonnages that will call on our country's maritime sovereignty areas are required to have a valid P&I insurance according to our national legislation provisions. As a matter of fact, the 13th article of the Turkish Straits Maritime Traffic Regulation Implementation Directive also governs the provision that all vessels carrying dangerous goods to pass through the Straits, vessels of 300 GT and above and towing vessels shall have a valid P&I letter of exchange.
With the regulation numbered 2022/879, titled "Restrictions Against Russia's Destabilizing Actions in Ukraine" published by the Council of the European Union on 3 June 2022 which amending the Council Regulation 2014/833, many prohibition/restriction provisions have been introduced to be implemented in phases. These prohibitions include prohibitive provisions regarding the transportation of Russian crude oil and petroleum products both to the EU and to third countries. In this respect Crude oil and petroleum products of Russian origin or exported from Russia, listed in the annex of the regulation (ANNEX XXV) are prohibited for providing technical assistance, brokerage services, financing or financial assistance, insurance and reinsurance services, directly or indirectly, in transporting them to third countries, including ship-to-ship; after 5 December 2022 and are prohibited for for crude oil shipments and after 5 February 2023 for petroleum products. And in case of violation of the prohibitions, the P&I insurance policies created for the relevant ships will be deemed invalid. Regarding the subject, when we look at the statements made by many P&I insurance companies recently; in the event that an illegal commercial act has been made or prohibitions have been violated prior to a liability giving rise to a loss, or in other cases such as these, it is stated that the damages will not be covered even if the ship has a valid P&I policy. As a matter of fact, it is known that these rules are generally printed texts in insurance rules and policies, but these warning statements are additional measures that remind ship owners about current developments.
When the subject is evaluated specific to our country in terms of a ship that will enter our maritime sovereignty areas; in maritime trade, which is a very dynamic sector, where more than 100 thousand ships are players and most of them take place on an international scale, it does not seem possible to follow whether a ship has performed a prohibited or illegal action before it comes to our country's maritime sovereignty. On the other hand, it is necessary to confirm that the P&I insurances are still valid and inclusionary during the passage of cargo ships, especially crude oil products, which are likely to have catastrophic consequences for our country, values and people in the event of a possible accident, through the Turkish Straits. Otherwise, after a possible accident, in case the P&I insurance company cannot be found or the insurance company rejects the work and actions required for the above-mentioned reasons, or the processes regarding all these take time and the necessary interventions are delayed; first of all, our country, our values and our people may suffer to a vital extent. And if our Straits, which is an important waterway, remain closed during this process; the supply chain and logistics mobility will come to a halt and a global crisis may occur. For this reason, it was considered that it would be the most cost-effective and reasonable solution to receive an additional confirmation letter regarding that the ship would still be covered by the valid P&I insurance during this navigation. In this respect, I kindly submitted for necessary action about Receiving a letter from P&I insurance companies of ships carrying crude oil that will pass through the Turkish Straits after 01/12/2022, stating the ship's details, cargo and voyage and stating that the P&I insurance will be valid and inclusive for this ship, voyage and cargo, adding this letter to the Sailing Plan-1 (SP-1) report to be submitted by the ship by these insurance companies or their representatives, and sending to the istcan.gth@kiyiemniyeti.gov.tr e-mail adress, coordination of the works and transactions related to the subject by the shipping agencies as early as possible in order to prevent possible loss of time and not to delay the passage of the ship.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
