Word: torrey
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...March, the grounded tanker Torrey Canyon spewed some 90,000 tons of crude oil into the coastal waters off southwestern Britain. Though only part of the oil reached the beaches, the accident cost Britain $7,000,000 in cleanup charges, polluted the sea from Cornwall to Brittany and dealt heavy damage to marine life in the area. And there are other vessels afloat that could make an even bigger mess...
During the fight to keep the oil from the Torrey Canyon off the beaches, Britain's Prime Minister Harold Wilson reported to Commons last week, "We did not wait to settle matters of finance, compensation or legal liability." Now that the crisis is abating, he continued, "the government is urgently considering the question of claims." Britain, said the Prime Minister, intends to sue the Union Oil Co. of California for damages due to the wreck of its supertanker. If the suit ever gets to court, it will further complicate what is fast becoming not only the most costly maritime...
Well-Insured Hull. Recovering the value of the Torrey Canyon and the 118,000 tons of crude oil it carried is only the beginning of the problem. British Petroleum, for whom the chartered ship was hauling crude from Kuwait to England, had insured its cargo for $1,600,000. The ship itself, owned by a company called Barracuda Tanker Corp., which was incorporated in Liberia but is controlled from Wall Street, carried "hull" insurance of $16.5 million. As is traditional in marine insurance, the policy (with an annual premium of $330,000) had been spread among 120 syndicates...
What makes the case of the Torrey Canyon really complex is the threatened damage suits. Like most vessels afloat today, the tanker carried more than hull insurance; it also had P & I (for Protection and Indemnity), which is insurance against damage to persons, piers or other objects while the ship is in operation. The primary P & I insurer was the Marine Office of America in New York City, a consortium that carried $2,500,000 on the vessel. Union also had an undisclosed amount of P & I with other companies, enough presumably to match at least...
...insurance is not adequate, Union Oil will presumably have to bear the brunt of the claims. Conceivably, Union could fight back by entering a countersuit against the British government for, of all things, piracy. Although British fighter planes bombed the ship "in defense of the realm," the Torrey Canyon at the time was actually outside British territorial waters...