Marine insurance

Marine insurance disputes reach Türkiye from two directions. A foreign owner, cargo interest or club correspondent has a claim against a Turkish insurer — a hull, cargo or liability policy written in Türkiye — or a Turkish claimant has a claim against a foreign insurer and looks for a way to reach it here. The Turkish Commercial Code's insurance provisions apply to the first; for the second, the question is whether Turkish law governs at all, and where it does, the Code gives the injured party a direct action against the liability insurer.

• The contract. An insurance contract is one by which the insurer, against a premium, undertakes to indemnify a loss to an insurable interest on the occurrence of the risk (TCC art. 1401).
• Burden of proof. The insurer is liable for the loss arising from the insured risk, and it is the insurer that must prove that a risk is excluded (TCC art. 1409).
• Liability cover. Unless the policy provides otherwise, a liability insurer pays the injured party, up to the sum insured, for the insured's liability arising from an event within the policy period even if the loss appears later (TCC art. 1473).

Against a Turkish insurer

Hull and machinery, cargo, yacht and liability policies written by Turkish insurers are governed by the Code's general insurance provisions and by the policy wording, which for hull and cargo usually adopts the London market clauses. The usual claims:

• a hull claim declined for unseaworthiness or breach of warranty;
• a cargo claim declined on the cause of loss;
• a yacht policy dispute after a marina fire or a grounding;
• a liability policy — a marina's, a yard's, a carrier's — that the injured party pursues directly.

On each, the insurer carries the burden of proving that the risk is excluded (TCC art. 1409).

Time bars

These periods cannot be shortened by the policy (TCC arts 1452, 1486). The underlying maritime time bars — one year for cargo, two for collision and salvage — run separately against the party liable and are set out on the maritime claims page.

Foreign insurers and P&I clubs

A P&I club's cover is governed by the club's rules and the law they choose; the Code's direct action applies where Turkish law governs the contract of insurance, and a claimant should not assume it does.

What Turkish law does give the claimant is the vessel.TCC art. 1352 — the underlying claim is a maritime claim for which the vessel can be arrested in a Turkish port

Cargo damage, collision, wages, a pollution clean-up bill — each is a maritime claim (TCC art. 1352), and the club's letter of undertaking is then the usual security for the vessel's release, by agreement with the claimant (TCC art. 1372). For a pollution fine the club letter is accepted by statute (Law No. 2872 art. 20). Giving security through the club is not an admission of liability (TCC art. 1373).

For the insurer and the club the same rules work the other way.

• Time. A claim by an insured against a Turkish insurer must be brought within two years of falling due and six years of the event (TCC art. 1420); an injured party's direct claim, within ten years (TCC art. 1482).
• Documents. The insurer may require the injured party to produce the documents needed to establish the event and the loss, and where the party fails to do so after written notice, the insurer's liability is limited to what it would have paid had the documents been produced (TCC art. 1479).
• Subrogation. An insurer that has indemnified its insured pursues the party liable by subrogation, within the maritime time bars, and may arrest the vessel for the subrogated maritime claim like any other claimant (TCC art. 1352).

For a club with a member's vessel in a Turkish port

The work is the security and the release: the letter of undertaking negotiated with the claimant under TCC art. 1372, or with the authority under Law No. 2872 for a fine, the arrest court's decisions on the amount and type of security (TCC arts 1370–1374), and the objection to the claimant's arrest where it is unjustified (TCC art. 1361).