Page 33 - Insurance Times July 2016

FEATURES OF
MARINE RISKS
AND WARRANTIES
IN MARINE
INSURANCE
Introduction
"There is no virtue in not knowing what can be known",
says Aldous Huxley. Insurance is no exception to this
prescript. Marine Insurance is an essential component in
commerce, trade and industry both domestic and
international. Without its know-how and the security it
affords, expansion and growth of even the most financially
secure trading or industrial organization will be stifled and,
faced with adversity, the organization could crumble.
In the increasingly difficult and highly technical markets of
today insurers provide this security with sound financial
reserves but it is knowledge and experience that enables
active underwriters to recognize the risks that are likely to
occur and determine the right cover for the assured. A full
understanding of insurance conditionsand market needs
enables an underwriter to properly fulfil his role in servicing of practices, rules and regulations and these rules and
his client's needs and come to a harmonious integration of
minds as between the insurer and the assured in concluding
the insurance contract.
About the author
A. Ramachandran
General Manager & Director (Retd)
United India Insurance Co. Ltd.
Marine Insurance practice and procedure are constantly
evolving and changing with times and insurers have to meet
the current needs of trade and commerce and maintain
economic stability and security in an often unstable financial
climate. The complexities of marine insurance underwriting
and conditions are particularly intricate to comprehend and
more so in recent years with many changes in market
practices both domestic and international on one hand and
marine insurance covenants on the other.
Marine Insurance has had a hoary past tracing its origin to
the 12th and early 13th century with the Hanseatic and
Lombard merchants who were very much into sea trade.
They were forced to migrate to England in the late 13th
century in search of a safe haven for their trade. The usages
of the Lombard merchants crystallized into a universal body
regulations later became part of the English Maritime Law.
What really gave impetus to a full-fledged law in respect of
marine insurance was the plague and the great London fire
of 1666 known as 'Annus Mirabilis'. The interpretation of
the rules and regulations and judicial decisions handed
down by courts in course of time led to the enactment of
The Marine Insurance Act, 1906 in England and much later
The Marine Insurance Act, 1963 in India.
The Insurance Times, July 2016 33