¡¡¡¡The Association arranged 76 condition surveys in the 2008 policy year, representing a decrease of 16% compared with the 90 condition surveys in the previous policy year. Entry condition surveys on 32 ships, follow-up surveys on 9 vessels and random inspections on 6 entered ships were carried out. However, some planned random inspections on entered ships were not completed for various reasons.
¡¡¡¡In the 2008 policy year, several vessels were denied entry into the Association due to? their failure to meet required standards. The rest of the surveys were mostly entry surveys for old ships or random inspections and annual surveys for oil tankers.
¡¡¡¡As fewer second-hand ships were bought in by members than those in the 2007 policy year, so there were fewer ship inspections performed. Besides the inspections arranged by the Association, some condition survey for entered ships was arranged by co-insurer Associations (which are not included in these figures).
¡¡¡¡The ship inspections carried out reveal that the general condition of newly entered ships in the 2008 policy year was basically the same as those of the previous policy year. Members should be aware that after condition surveys, restrictions on cover were placed on the majority of the entered ships, and the restrictions can only be lifted once all deficiencies are rectified in time and once any follow-up surveys are passed.
¡¡¡¡In policy year 2008, the ship inspections performed by the Association drew special attention to two issues:
¡¡¡¡(1)Lack of communication between personnel on board and personnel in the commercial and maintenance departments of some Members resulted in some condition surveys not being arranged smoothly. Some important items in the survey could not be carried out successfully. When the structure and cargo-worthiness of vessel could not be determined in condition survey, the Association has no choice but to add strict restriction clauses to the cover.
¡¡¡¡(2) The crew did not take the condition survey seriously, which may be attributed to weak onboard management. Some discrepancies that could be rectified on spot were left unsolved because the crew did not provide full cooperation to the surveyor. Furthermore, the efficiency of condition surveys has been severely undermined due to the lack of feedback on the rectification of discrepancies.?
¡¡¡¡The Association would like to remind all Members again, that to ensure the condition surveys can be carried out successfully, Members should arrange a suitable time according to the vessel¡¯s schedule and notify the surveyor and the Association in a timely manner. As the survey starts, the personnel onboard ought to provide their full assistance and cooperation to the surveyor. While giving priority to important items during the condition survey, the on-board personnel are required to support the surveyor to complete as much items as possible.
¡¡¡¡If any restrictions are made to the ship¡¯s cover due to defects or deficiencies found in a condition survey, Members are required for the repair within the time scale required, so as to avoid any disputes in respect of the cover.
¡¡¡¡2. Seminars
¡¡¡¡On 10th November 2008, the Association held a seminar on claim handling in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China with 82 participants from Maritime Court, Marine Safety Administrations, law firms and Members. The Association invited the judges from the Ningbo Maritime Court, the experts from the Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration, the specialists from China Classification Society, professors from Shanghai Maritime University, specialists from the Managers as well as some experienced lawyers in the field to give lectures on various topics, such as judgments on personal injuries and death cases in marine casualties, the Regulations of People¡¯s Republic of China on seafarers and its corollary rules, Emergency Response Service for vessels, administrative penalties and criminal liabilities in marine accidents, new developments in charterparties, the 2001 Bunker Convention, and the cause analysis on collision accidents between seagoing vessels and fishing vessels off Chinese coast,? etc.
¡¡¡¡The seminar was highly valued by the Members, as it provided a great opportunity for the participants to exchange their opinions and gain the awareness of loss prevention.
¡¡¡¡3. Advisory Service
¡¡¡¡In the 2008 policy year, the Managers compiled 12 issues of Advisory Service, mainly focused on shipping laws and loss prevention, with a total number of 38 articles.
¡¡¡¡In the shipping law section, the following articles were included.
¡¡¡¡The article ¡°Entry into force of the 2001 Bunker Convention¡± introduced the new developments of ratifications of the convention. The articles ¡°Review of the 2001 Bunker Convention¡± and ¡°Analysis of the application and limitation of liability under 2001 Bunker Convention ¡± contains the background of the convention, the characteristics of the compulsory insurance system in the convention, the application of the convention and the limitation of liability of shipowners and the insures under the convention. These two articles provided detailed background information and theoretical analysis to Members. The article ¡°The entry into force of the 2001 Bunker Convention and the Certifications¡± timely notified Members of the conditions and channels to obtain Bunker Convention Certificates, so that the entered ships could be operated without problem after the entry into force of the convention. The articles ¡°The new developments in charter-parties¡± and ¡°The milestone judgment in UAE court on limitation of liability of Shipowners¡± observed the latest developments and judgment in the field of international maritime law.
¡¡¡¡In respect of the loss prevention section, the article ¡°Cause analysis on collisions of coastal transport¡± targeted problems in coastal transport and pointed out that measures should be taken by shipowners through analyzing the cause of collision accidents occurred in Chinese coast recent years. This is of great importance to members as it provided guidance on how to prevent collision in coastal transport. The article ¡°Recent development on Piracy¡± discussed the pirate issue and revealed the pirate-infested area so that Members could keep alert and take some preventative measures.
¡¡¡¡These articles are of great value to Members in enhancing safety management and avoiding accidents.
¡¡¡¡In addition, 13 Loss Prevention Circulars were issued to introduce new developments in maritime law, shipping, insurance and loss prevention etc.
¡¡¡¡In compliance with the resolutions of the Board, the Managers engaged in reasonable investment activities under the principle of safety and efficiency. The Association achieved the investment return of 14.8% in 2008, which was much higher than the market interest rate as well as average investment return of 1.55% acquired by other insurers in China.
¡¡¡¡In accordance with the decision of the Board, the Association distributed a 6% investment subsidy to Members in policy year 2007 so that Members could share the benefit brought about by the investment activities.
¡¡¡¡Although investment activity is not the core business of the Association, its income not only reduced the insurance costs of Members but also enhanced the capacity of risk resistance and cohesion of the Association.
Other Business Activities
¡¡¡¡During the 2008 policy year, the following activities were carried out:
¡¡¡¡As members of the Chinese Delegation, the experts of the Association attended the No.94 Legal Committee conference of the IMO.
¡¡¡¡£±£®The Association won the BID (Business Initiative Directions) Award for Quality in the Platinum Category.
¡¡¡¡£²£®Following the decision of the Board, the Managers, representing the Association and all Members, donated RMB 5 million disaster relief to the victims of ¡°5.12¡± Wenchuan Earthquake. Such charity donation of the Association won praise from the Department of Civil Affairs of the Chinese Government.
¡¡¡¡£³£®Delegations of the Association went to South Korea, Iran, Ukraine, and Vietnam to deal with issues of guarantees and to handle major claims. Apart from achieving positive results on handling the claims, the delegation also visited the local Correspondents.
¡¡¡¡£´£®The Association renewed the appointment of local Correspondents in Russia and Ukraine.
¡¡¡¡£µ£®The Association moved to the new office building.