Policy indemnifies seafarers against the financial default of their employers
Marine insurance broker Seacurus has launched an insurance policy to protect shipping crews against non-payment of wages if their employers hit financial trouble.
The policy, called CrewSEACURE, will enable all employers of seafarers to meet their regulatory obligations under the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 (MLC), which comes into force on 20 August 2013.
CrewSEACURE will provide up to $10m of cover in the event of an employer’s financial default.
It includes personal accident protection and covers medical expenses as well as subsistence and repatriation costs. It will also respond to the non-payment of seafarers’ wages for a period of up to six months.
Seacurus claims no other product on the market currently offers protection against unpaid wages.
The policy is underwritten by A-rated insurers in Lloyd’s and the London companies market, led by Brit Syndicates and Aspen Insurance UK.
A 24-hour claims service for the policy is managed by Thomas Miller Claims.
Seacurus managing director Thomas Brown said: “CrewSEACURE has been designed to cover the requirements of MLC. The shipping industry faces economic challenges. Not all shipowners and operators will survive the current global recession, and this will inevitably have a knock-on effect on those seafarers who are caught up in the resulting bankruptcy cases.”
International Maritime Employers Council secretary general Giles Heimann added: “Seacurus believes that effective employment protection must include crew wages. For that reason, it has provided an effective system of financial security to put an end to the spectre of seafarers becoming the cashflow casualties of their employers’ insolvencies.”
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