Stephen Tomlinson News

Shipowners Chance 'Negative Equity' in Event of CTL

Shipowners have been warned they could face being saddled with ‘negative equity’ in the insurance aftermath of disasters at sea, according to Keith Jones the outgoing chairman of the Association of Average Adjusters (AAA) at its London AGM, reports UK shipping trade association Maritime London. Jones listed a potential series of pitfalls awaiting shipping companies when a ‘constructive total loss’ (CTL) is declared. He urged owners to be wary from the outset of the costs over which they had control, of the expensive business of maintaining a wreck pending investigation of the cause of the casualty, and cautioned that they may be unable to recover their costs if the sums exceeded the eventual proceeds of sale of the wreck.