Who sunk my superyacht?
Who is to blame for the loss of 130 ft superyacht My Song during the voyage from Palma to Genoa?
It appears the blame game has already started, as the transport company (Peters & May) has already made preliminary comments that the yacht’s cradle collapsed and that the cradle was ‘owned and provided by the yachts owners, warrantied by the yacht for sea transport, and assembled by the yacht’s crew’.
Marine cargo insurance versus yacht insurance
From an insurance prospective, the owners of the transporting vessel MV BRATTINGSBORG would have some marine insurance in place but it is likely that they would look to shift that responsibility to the yacht insurer because their contention is that they provided the cradle that collapsed.
The assessors appointed will have to determine liability. What caused the collapse? Did the cradle move across the deck with wave action, causing the collapse? If so, that could mean that the transport vessel owners might be liable because it wasn’t secured correctly.
The take away from all this is that the owner should not be out of pocket and the legal fight will likely be between the insurers about who picks up the $40 million tab.
Questions?
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