Covid-19 travel restrictions have prevented a number of marine surveys from taking place as physical attendance onboard vessels has been restricted since the spring of 2020. However, underwriters still require an insight and assessment of the risk being underwritten.

 

The challenge

Renewal of a H&M policy required a condition survey to be carried out on a 1954 built cable ferry, operating on Lake Ontario in Canada. The ferry was approximately 300km from Montreal and it was not possible to find a qualified local surveyor to attend.

 

The solution

The underwriter, Tokio Marine HCC International (TMHCC) and the broker agreed to deploy a remote survey application (Survey Association (SA) remote) to secure the required information and survey,  due to the inability to access the vessel.

 

The survey

Upon acceptance from the broker, SA sent “how-to-do” guidelines to the Master, who downloaded the app. Once his email was verified and his account approved, he could select the appropriate survey template and conduct the non-IMO condition survey, covering all aspects of the vessel, from machinery, certificates to life/fire safety and deck equipment. 

The Master conducted the survey in less than four hours as he was familiar with the vessel, and he took a video of the engine start-up, hull and equipment. He uploaded certificates, flag state inspection reports, and pictures of the deck and steering house among others, and he filled in the relevant questions.

Once the self-survey was completed, the Master went online and submitted the survey. SA operations department received a system notification for the receipt of a survey, and a qualified surveyor logged on the back-end of the system for review of all the input submitted.

The desktop survey took three hours in total, and the condition of each department of the vessel was rated by the SA surveyor.

 

The outcome

The Survey onboard took four hours, the desktop review took three hours. In total seven hours were spent on the survey and zero hours on transport and the broker and underwriter had the report in hand within a business day.

The remote survey was a success as the vessel had good mobile connectivity for the survey upload, the Master was familiar with the vessel and provided all relevant information in the first instance. There was no need for further interaction between the vessel and the surveyor.

The smaller size of the vessel and the fact that it operates in brown water were factors that proved ideal for this type of self/remote survey. In reference to damage surveys, the type of casualty may be a limiting factor, proving more suitable for less complex claims, such as a grounding claim. However, the remote survey has been used on engine room fires on large container ships as a complementary tool, where it is the accuracy of initial assessment which is difficult.