Trade and Transport Insurance 2011

MARINE

2011 was a relatively quiet year in the courts for Australian marine insurers, with no significant decisions to be reported. However, the decision in the UK Supreme Court in Global Process Systems Inc v Syarikat Takaful Malaysia Berhad [2011] UKSC 5 was noted by the local market with considerable interest. That decision further explored the meaning of "inherent vice", supporting the conclusion in Soya GmbH v White [1983] 1 Lloyd's Rep 122. The UK Supreme Court agreed that "inherent vice" meant the risk of deterioration of goods shipped as a result of their natural behaviour in the ordinary course of the contemplated voyage without intervention of any fortuitous accident or casualty. However, the complex judgments overlayed this definition with findings that the "ordinary course of the voyage" did not encompass all weather conditions that the ship could forseeably encounter and that there should be no limitation...