Collisions

The word ‘collision’ usually means, within the context of marine insurance and maritime law, the physical contact between two, or more, ships (although there has been exception when ships have been towed). In Annex 2 of MSC/Circ.953 a collision is defined as ‘...striking or being struck by another ship (regardless of whether under way, anchored or moored)... ’ A ‘collision’ does not include a physical contact between one ship and, for example, a navigation buoy — that is a ‘contact’ or, as the Americans call it, an allision. A collision would not, usually, include a situation where one ship caused damage to another where there was no physical contact, for example where the wash from a ship moving past at speed in a canal or river caused a moored vessel to surge and, as a consequence, suffered damage. That would be a non-contact damage incident.

The type of evidence required is, of course, going to be very similar in all three scenarios — the reason for separating them however is because they represent different insurable risks and are likely to involve different insurers.

In the lead up to a collision taking place there is very likely going to be a series of incidents and increasingly intense activity developing on the bridge of both ships. It will be necessary to try and reconstruct what exactly happened on the bridge of each ship, who did what and when - it will also be necessary to try and find an answer to the more difficult question of why? Clearly, if the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions (COLREGS) were being followed then collisions simply should not occur.

Following a collision there will be many matters to attend to and the situation will require very careful management. Tasks will need to be prioritised and clearly safety of lives, the ship and the environment will be at the top of that list. However, it is crucial that a contemporaneous record is maintained of what is happening — if possible backed up with photographs and videos. The delegation of such tasks should not have been left until an incident occurs.

It is likely that in the aftermath of a collision, lawyers and surveyors acting for owners and their insurers will come aboard the vessel and play an active role in gathering evidence necessary to bring or defend claims for damage. However, they will rely heavily on the master and the crew to provide much of the evidence.

It is quite likely that lawyers acting for the other vessel in the collision may try and secure an arrest on your vessel and attempt to board to interview members of the crew. Requests may be made to participate in a joint survey.

The Classification Society and other surveyors will probably be attending on board. It is also likely that local authorities will put an investigator on board if the collision occurred within their jurisdiction, this may be the capacity as port State Control or coastguard, such as the MCA, and / or a safety orientated investigation such as might be undertaken by the MATE, flag State Administration may also dispatch an investigator.