Official blog of Swansea University's IISTL, where we keep you up to date with the latest maritime and commercial legal news.
The Saga Continues- What Really Happened to the Brillante Virtuoso?
The Brillante Virtuoso was sailing from Ukraine to China with a cargo of
fuel oil when she was boarded by pirates off Gulf of Aden on 5 July 2011. The
pirates directed the vessel to Somalia but when the engine stopped and could
not be re-started, they allegedly placed a detonator in the engine room causing
a huge damage to the vessel. The vessel was insured for $US 55 million with an
additional $US 22 million increased cover with ten Lloyd’s underwriters. The
underwriters refused to indemnify the assured (Suez Fortune Investments Ltd).
The assured and its bank (Pireus Bank AE) brought a claim against the insurers.
In the first stage of the trial, the claimants were successful and Flaux, J,
(as he then was) held that the vessel was a constructive total loss under s.
60(2)(i) of the Marine Insurance Act 1906 as she was damaged by an insured
peril and the cost of repairs would exceed the insured value of the ship when
repaired [2015] EWHC 42 (Comm). The insurers argued unsuccessfully that in
taking into account the repair value of the damage, the cost of repairs at
China should be taken into account. The claimants, on the other hand, argued
that the repairs were completed in Dubai and the cost incurred at Dubai should
be taken into account even though the cost of repairs in Dubai was 17.5 % more than
the cost of repairs in China. Flaux, J, held that that the appropriate location
for repairs will depend on the individual circumstances of the case. In this
case, he was of the view that Dubai was the most appropriate place for repairs
taking into account i) risks that will be associated with further towage to
China; ii) cost of insurance for the tow; iii) loss of income for additional
period of time; and iv) reputation of yards (not only with regard to the quality
of workmanship but also accuracy of cost estimates and the risk of delay).
The Brillante Virtuoso after the incident!
The second stage of the trial which will determine the issues of liability of the insurers commenced on 18 February 2019. Parties have different views of what happened to the Brillante Virtuoso in July 2011. The owners argue that the attack was carried out by the pirates who were or used to be members of the Yemeni navy or coast guard. The insurers, on the other hand, put forward the view that the attack was staged by the owners of the ship so this is a case of “wilful misconduct” of the assured. The insurers also rely on other defences, such as breach of various warranties in the policy. It is expected that this will be a lengthy trial but hopefully we shall finally find out what really happened to The Brillante Virtuoso.
Professor Soyer was appointed a lecturer at the School of Law, Swansea University in 2001 and was promoted to readership in 2006 and professorship in 2009. He was appointed Director of the Institute of Shipping and Trade Law at the School of Law, Swansea in October 2010. He was previously a lecturer at the University of Exeter. His postgraduate education was in the University of Southampton from where he obtained his Ph.D degree in 2000. Whilst at Southampton he was also a part-time lecturer and tutor. His principal research interest is in the field of insurance, particularly marine insurance, but his interests extend broadly throughout maritime law and contract law.
He is the author of Warranties in Marine Insurance published by Cavendish Publishing (2001), and an impressive list of articles published in elite Journals such as Lloyd’s Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly, Berkley Journal of International Law, Journal of Contract Law and Journal of Business Law. His first book was the joint winner of the Cavendish Book Prize 2001 and was awarded the British Insurance Law Association Charitable Trust Book Prize in 2002, for the best contribution to insurance literature. A new edition of this book was published in 2006. In 2008, he edited a collection of essays published by Informa evaluating the Law Commissions' Reform Proposals in Insurance Law: Reforming Commercial and Marine Insurance Law. This book has been cited on numerous occasions in the Consultation Reports published by English and Scottish Law Commissions and also by the Irish Law Reform Commission and has been instrumental in shaping the nature of law reform. In recent years, he edited several books in partnership with Professor Tettenborn: Pollution at Sea: Law and Liability, published by Informa in 2012; Carriage of Goods by Sea, Land and Air, published by Informa in 2013 and Offshore Contracts and Liabilities, published by Informa Law from Routledge in 2014. His most recent monograph, Marine Insurance Fraud, was published in 2014 by Informa Law from Routledge.
His teaching experience extends to the under- and postgraduate levels, including postgraduate teaching of Carriage of Goods by Sea, Transnational Commercial Law, Marine Insurance, Admiralty Law and Oil and Gas Law. He is one of the editors of the Journal of International Maritime Law and is also on the editorial board of Shipping and Trade Law and Baltic Maritime Law Quarterly. He currently teaches Admiralty Law, Oil and Gas Law and Marine Insurance on the LLM programme and also is the Head of the Department of Postgraduate Legal Studies at Swansea.
View all posts by Professor Barış Soyer
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One thought on “The Saga Continues- What Really Happened to the Brillante Virtuoso?”