08.30-08.55

Registration and Refreshments sponsored by Clyde & Co

08.55-09.00

Welcome Address

Presenter: Grant Attwell, Events Director, Cannon Events

09.00-09.20

Presentation: State of the Market

Presenter: Neil Roberts, Head of Marine and Aviation, Lloyd’s Market Association

09.20-10.00

Panel Discussion: Tariffs: How Will They Affect the Marine Insurance Market?

Hardly a day goes by without some sort of news on tariffs emanating from the US, making it difficult for countries — let alone individual businesses — to keep pace with the changes. What is clear, however, is that the impact on shipping is already being felt. In this session, we discuss the implications for claims, contractual relationships, the shipping trade and marine insurance generally arising from the US tariffs and the likely effect of the USTR port service charges when they come into effect in October.

Moderator: Jonathan Evans, Partner, Global Risks, DWF Law

Panellists: Marie Kelly, Vice President, Defence, Gard

Jenny Isted, Senior Claims Adjuster, Sompo International

Frank Sioli, Managing Shareholder, Sioli Alexander Pino 

J. Michael Pennekamp, Shareholder, Fowler White Burnett

10.00-10.20

Presentation: AI and the Workplace – The War on Talent

The rise of the machines was the subject of many a sci-fi movie, but now we are facing a reality where the machines are quite rapidly taking over many jobs. We ask how this is impacting the marine claims sector and how this impacts the perennial cry of many insurers that they “simply can’t find the staff”?

Presenter: Paal Hystad-Haaland, Group Claims Director, Ai Marine

10.20-11.00

Panel Discussion: Interaction Between Cargo, P&I and H&M – Joining the Dots

Almost every claim will involve any number of either cargo, hull and machinery and P&I interests, but so often, each element of the claim is dealt with in isolation. In this session, we discuss the importance of communication and collaboration and how an improvement in those would help reduce the overall claims costs.

Moderator: Simon Jackson, Partner, DAC Beachcroft

Panellists: Jasmin Fichte, Managing Partner, Fichte & Co

Robert Tomlinson, Senior Claims Advisor, Gard

Hakon Roer-Eide, Claims Manager Marine and Energy, Gallagher Norway

11.00-11.20

Coffee and Networking Break

11.20-11.40

Presentation: Collisions, Including Criminalisation of Seafarers

Inevitably, collisions at sea continue to happen, despite the increased automation onboard vessels. In recent months Stann Law have worked on several cases in the full glare of the media, often leading to speculation around the causes of the accident and often leading to the criminalisation of the seafarers involved. In this presentation, we hear about the key issues arising from such collision incidents and how such claims can be managed.

Presenter: Faz Peermohamed, Partner, Stann Law

11.40-11.50

Presentation: What Was Really Said? The Untapped Power of VDR Evidence in Collision Investigation

VDR recordings often hold crucial clues about the moments leading up to a collision, yet are frequently overlooked or misused due to poor transcription or misinterpretation. This session highlights how forensic-level handling of VDR audio can reveal key evidence, correct assumptions and help ensure seafarers are not unfairly blamed due to misunderstood words or cultural dynamics on the bridge.

Presenter: Mustafa Almansur, Chief Executive Officer, Vocalegal

11.50-12.05

Industry Snapshot: Scrap Fires

More frequently, vessel owners are reporting fires linked to the carriage of scrap on board. One theory is that the scrap may well contain undeclared lithium batteries, often damaged in the course of becoming scrap and therefore an increased fire hazard. In this presentation, we hear of a potential scenario from start to finish of the incident and following claim.

Presenter: Suzanne Byrne, Group Head of Claims, West of England P&I Club

12.05-12.20

Industry Snapshot: Car Carrier Vessel Fires

Sadly, car carrier fires persist worldwide, with one of the latest examples being off Alaska just a few months ago. In this session, we hear of the work being done to establish the cause of these fires, often sparked by failure of electric vehicle car lithium batteries.

Presenter: Capt. Adrian Scales, Director of Europe, Master Mariner, Brookes Bell

12.20-12.40

Presentation: Fighting Fire at Sea                               

Seafarers are not fire-fighters, but are often asked to step up to the task. Often, they manage to contain fires on board and little is heard of the incidents. But sadly, sometimes the fire is just too over-whelming and can become an immediate risk to life. In this session, we hear of the firefighting initiatives underway from the design stage onwards.

Presenter: John Gow, Principal Associate, Hawkins

12.40-13.30

Lunch Break and Networking

13.30-14.10

Panel Discussion: Sanctions – The True Cost of Doing Business

Sanctions have been used as a weapon of war for the past decade or more, but it seems the real impact is only being felt now, as more countries and individuals are sanctioned. In this discussion we consider the real cost to shipping and the way in which the business world is bifurcating.

Moderator: Bea Bray, Associate, HFW

Panellists: Camilla Slater, Group Secretariat, International Group of P&I Clubs

Michelle Allingham, Marine Claims Manager, Brit Insurance

Dr. Ulf Marr, Counsel, Arnecke Sibeth Dabelstein

David Loh, Partner, KMA Zuckert

14.10-14.30

Presentation: Russia – How to Settle a Valid Claim

Valid claims know no borders, however in a world of sanctions, claims teams are increasingly having to find ways around the norm to settle entirely valid claims, such as that of seafarer families, owed money after the death or injury of a loved one. In this presentation, we hear how claims teams are becoming increasingly inventive in response to the sanctions challenge, while staying on the right side of the law.  

Presenter: Iryna Petrenko, Manager of Claims and P&I Department, Nordic Marine Solutions

14.30-14.50

Presentation: War Risks, Including Losses and Crew Claims

For the first time in a long time, war losses and erroneous detentions have become a regular feature of the market, with losses mounting up. This session asks where the losses have come from and what it means for insurers’ exposures. It also considers what are the lessons for the future and how can the market be better prepared from here on in. Finally, we will include the crew element of these claims and explore whether there have been any PTSD claims from Houthis attacks or from the piracy in Singapore Straits.

Presenter: Chris Zavos, Partner, Kennedys

14.50-15.30

Panel Discussion: A Two-Tier World – The Dark Fleet

The unintended consequences of the sanction regime in which the maritime fleet operates appears to be an increasing two-tier world, with some of the dark fleet able to buy insurance – just not the insurance that reacts should a claim arise because of sanctions. This scenario appears to be manifesting through 2025, with no signs of it slowing down as the dark fleet increases in size. In this session, we analyse the trend within the dark fleet and how claims teams should react when an insured vessel is caught up in an incident concerning a dark fleet ship.

Moderator: Dharshini Bandara, Barrister, Fleet Hamburg

Panellists: Patrick Foss, Partner, Kennedys

Michael Greenwood, Legal Director – Shipping UK, Hill Dickinson

Eckehard Volz, Partner, Clyde & Co

15.30-15.50

Fireside Chat: Cleaning Up Cleanly – ESG in Salvage and Wreck Removal

As the pressure grows for every element of the shipping sector to take a greener approach, salvors are being asked to ensure their operations conform too. Insurers, owners and charterers are all looking for salvage which is environmentally sympathetic and are increasingly willing to pay an extra price for that. In this session, we discuss how it will increase the cost of claims and whether that is an acceptable trade-off in terms of better protecting the environment.

Participants: Martin Barnes, Marine Response Lead, Ambipar Response

Afroditi Karava, Senior Claims Manager, The London P&I Club

Capt. Henk Smith, Co-Owner and Director of Operations, Marine Masters

15.50-16.10

Case Study: Salvage – ASL Bauhinia

This case study focus’ on the container vessel casualty ASL Bauhinia in the Red Sea in an area where tensions had arisen (Houthi’s). The case study highlights how the remoteness of the casualty made logistics lines challenging especially when the vessel ran aground during the salvage. During this difficult operation the vessel struggled to find a port of refuge as this case study reveals.

Presenter: Maurice Schreurs, Commercial Director, SMIT Salvage

16.10-16.30

Presentation: Out with the Old, In with the New

In the salvage world there has been plenty of innovation, for example into areas like robotics. In the session, we hear about the latest gadgets and technology helping to take some of the challenges out of salvage, with examples from across the world.

Presenter: Elias Psyllos, Vice President, T&T Salvage

Close of Conference Day One followed by Gala Dinner sponsored by DAC Beachcroft

09.30-09.55

Registration and Refreshments sponsored by Clyde & Co

09.55-10.00

Welcome Address

Grant Attwell, Events Director, Cannon Events

10.00-10.20

Presentation: A View from the Courtroom – Four Interesting Marine Insurance and Shipping Decisions of the English Courts Over the Last Year 

Talk to cover: the points of wider application for marine insurance emerging from the Russian Aircraft mega-trial; the Court of Appeal’s decision in The Win Win (marine insurance detention case); the recent decision in The Grand Amanda on the implied indemnity from charterers to owners; and the Supreme Court’s decision in The Giant Ace on the application of the Article III Rule 6 time bar in the Hague/Hague-Visby Rules to breaches after discharge.

Presenters: Sandra Healy, Barrister, 7 King’s Bench Walk

Frederick Alliott, Barrister, 7 King’s Bench Walk

10.20-11.00

Panel Discussion: Italian Differences in Focus

This session will update the market on the Italian claim operating environment. We will analyse the challenges of managing a claim involving Italian interests or within Italian waters, looking at the adjusting, survey and legal differences compared to other markets, alongside the practical challenges.

Moderator: Alessandro Carbone, Claims Manager, Cambiaso Risso Marine

Panellists: Andrea Papaioannu, Head of Claims, DUAL Marine Europe

Guglielmo Camera, Partner, Camera Vernetti Law Firm

Giuseppe Averame, Chief Executive Officer, Rely Marine & Energy Experts

Giorgio Cavallo, Average Adjuster, Studio Dott. Giorgio Cavallo Average Adjusters

11.00-11.20

Presentation: Free Your Experts: Shifting Claims from Low-Value Admin to High-Value Judgment

While much attention is given to technology and work and its implications for employment, our latest market research points to a more urgent and fundamental issue – one that today determines survival in the competition for talent. The true challenge is not a dystopian vision of machines replacing humans, but the everyday reality in which outdated systems and fragmented processes force highly skilled professionals to waste their time on low-value administrative tasks

Presenter: Karol Urbańczyk, Insurance Consultant, Future Processing

Anna Łukaszczyk, Insurance Practice Portfolio Manager, Future Processing

11.20-11.40

Presentation: Complexities of Attending Surveys After War Risk Losses (a Surveyor’s Perspective)

This talk explores the intricate challenges faced by marine insurance surveyors conducting damage surveys on vessels struck by missiles or attack drones in the Red Sea. With these attacks occurring in high-risk areas and vessels often immobilised as a result, surveyors must navigate a complex web of safety protocols, logistical planning, insurance requirements and geopolitical negotiations. From finding a surveyor willing to accept the challenge, securing life insurer approvals to attend an active ‘war zone’ or at best, a port classed as ‘High Risk’, to coordinating with salvors amidst active fires and securing safe transportation, the process demands exceptional planning, resilience and diplomacy in order to attend and report facts to the Vessel’s insurers so that decisions can be made as quickly as possible to mitigate losses.

Presenter: Wayne Alves da Silva Neves, Managing Director – Maritime MENA and India, ABL Group

11.40-12.00

Presentation: Unpacking Complexity – A Data-Driven Approach to Adjusting Major Warehouse Fire Losses

The presentation examines the multifaceted challenges posed by a major warehouse fire that resulted in substantial stock losses and triggered a complex response across a layered insurance program. The session explores how a data analytical approach can be integrated into the loss adjustment process to enhance transparency and accuracy in high-value, high-complexity claims. The presentation will cover topics such as the nature and scale of the warehouse loss, including stock valuation and classification complications, forensic data capture and analytical methodologies used to reconstruct inventory positions and loss quantum, how large volumes of financial, logistical, and operational data are organised and interrogated to support the claims process, the intricacies of a tiered insurance structure, including attachment points, exhaustion sequencing, and difference in conditions, and the collaborative engagement between adjusters, claims preparers, insurers and insured parties to ensure coordinated conclusion of the claim.

Presenter: Paul Bates, Director, Lloyd Warwick International

12.00-12.20

Presentation: The Maritime Labour Convention – Ten Years On

People claims constitute a significant number of claims presented to P&I Insurers. The 2015 and subsequent amendments to the MLC have placed a greater onus on P&I Clubs in dealing with vessel abandonments, but also the handling of personal injury claims, namely illnesses, injuries and deaths, which are increasingly costly. In this session, we explore how greater awareness amongst seafarers of their rights under the MLC is impacting the management and outcomes of these claims and what can be anticipated in the future.

Presenter: Sara Jones, Managing Director, Shipserve (International) Inc

12.20-13.00

Panel Discussion: Inflation/Cost of Claims

Nuclear verdicts, tariffs and taxes – all are playing their part in increasing claims’ costs. In a post-Covid world, people had expected things to calm down, but since then the various wars, threats to supply chains and more have all contributed to an ever-escalating rise in the cost of claims. In this panel, we discuss how this is impacting the claims environment and what can be done (if anything) to mitigate these costs.

Moderator: Anthony Menzies, Partner, DAC Beachcroft

Panellists: Emily McCulloch, Head of Claims (Americas), West of England P&I Club

Amy Eaves, Claims Manager – Marine, Lancashire Insurance

Neil Bayer, Director, Campbell Johnston Clark

Laura Gongaware, Partner, Clyde & Co

13.00-14.00

Luncheon and Close of Conference