11 March 2024 (Lloyd's List) - MAERSK has cancelled calls to Haiti until further notice as the country spirals into gang warfare, which local shipping sources confirm is seriously disrupting port operations.
Considering the deteriorating situation, the Danish boxship outfit has extended the freetime period offered to cargo owners before they incur detention fees, as the company outfit cannot currently guarantee collection.
Maersk has also told clients to consider diverting cargoes in transit elsewhere. Another liner, Hapag-Lloyd, is restricting bookings for imports bound for Port-au-Prince, again until further notice.
Meanwhile, P&I club NorthStandard has published guidance from local correspondents E&M International Consulting, which advises that tensions are continuing to increase and the situation is becoming extremely violent.
Gangs demanding the resignation of president Ariel Henry, who has left the country, are reportedly in control of much of the capital, including the airport.
Thousands of inmates have been released from prisons and the National Police Academy has been destroyed, with the death of six police officers. Over 360,000 people have been displaced.
One of the main gang bosses, Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier, who heads an alliance of gangs called G9, has threatened all-out civil war if Henry does not step down.
The situation on the ground has already reached the point at which the US has felt it advisable to airlift out all non-essential embassy personnel, although the embassy itself will remain open for the time being. Security has been beefed up for those that remain.
The German ambassador and other EU representatives have fled Haiti for the neighbouring Dominican Republic.
Agreement has been reached in principle for 2,000 members of the Kenyan police to be sent to the country to bolster law enforcement efforts. But Kenyan opposition politicians are challenging the move in the Kenyan courts.
In the capital of Port au Prince, three terminals have seen operations impacted by armed gangs operating around the port area, who are engaged in robbery and other criminal activities.
In particular, there is a heightened security risk at the Martissant terminal due to the presence of armed men in the vicinity.
Many customers have not been able to enter the port area to either pick up or drop off boxes.
Elsewhere, other ports and terminals remain open, but with restrictions on capacity. These include Varreux, Thor, Abraham, Cap-Haïtien and Laffiteau.
Shipowners are advised to seek confirmation from the agents or port authorities and pilot stations on the status of cargo operations and the availability of safe and proper berthing.
Crews should remain on their vessels, stay vigilant and maintain appropriate levels of security, E&M added.
Hapag-Lloyd told customers: “For the past weeks, Haiti has experienced a high level of street violence and civil unrest throughout Port-au-Prince and provinces.
“This situation is affecting all sectors of the country's economy. Therefore, ports and terminal facilities are surpassing their capacity and customs clearance processes have been suspended.
“In the current scenario, we are temporarily applying a booking restriction for all imports into Port-au-Prince, Haiti with immediate effect. The booking restriction will be in place until further notice.”
Vessels calls to Haiti have been in decline since 2020, according to data from Lloyd’s List Intelligence.
Last year saw some 535 cargo-carrying vessels arrive from foreign destinations. Port-au-Prince was by far the busiest port, accounting for over 80% of arrivals. Containerships and general cargoships are the most common callers.
Lafito Port used to be a significant hub for maritime traffic, but arrivals have plummeted in 2023 with just six callings, down from 115 in 2022.
Since March 8 there have been just two callings in Haitian ports, both arriving from the US. These were Sider Colombia (IMO: 9656541), a 13,166 dwt general cargoship, which docked at Cap Haitien on March 10 and bulk carrier Onego Wisla (IMO: 9521875), which docked at Port-au-Prince on the same day.
So far the number of arrivals for the first 10 days of March does not differ from the same period last year.
From an insurance viewpoint, NorthStandard confirmed that P&I cover remained in place “subject to the usual exceptions”, which include the need to ensure any trade is prudent.
But the unrest was likely to meet the threshold for civil commotion set down in marine policies, added Sarah Holsgrove, legal director at law firm Birketts, who cited the 1940 case Levy v Assicurazioni Generali.
“The meaning of ‘civil commotion’ for insurance purposes is an ‘insurrection of the people for general purposes, though not amounting to a rebellion; but is probably not capable of any very precise definition. The element of turbulence or tumult is essential’.”
The test was that civil commotion was generally considered to require a lesser degree of organisation than required for insurrection, she went on.
Any loss, damage or liability caused by civil commotion is generally excluded from marine risks cover under the strikes exclusion clause and perils clause.
A marine insurance partner at another law firm, who asked not to be named, said that civil commotion was not an excluded named peril in the Institute Time Charter hull clauses and therefore not a named peril in the ITC war risk buy-back. Nor was it an excluded peril under ITC war risks.
However, ITC hull clauses do exclude ‘civil strife’, which forms part of the buy-back in ITC war risk. The International Group of P&I clubs likewise uses the phrase civil strife.
BIMCO’s Conwartime clause uses the term civil commotion as part of a wider-ranging set of definitions that essentially establish the meaning of the word ‘war’. Other BIMCO forms use civil commotion as part of the triggers for a force majeure event.
The definitive legal text, Miller on Marine War Risks, sets out a number of conditions likely to be necessary for a court to rule that civil commotion has occurred.
The threshold requires a substantial number of people to engage in “general mischief” or try “to do terrible things” that are not expressly aimed at the overthrow of the government, although this may be regarded as a desirable result by some of the participants.
If most participants are seeking the overthrow of the government, the insured perils of “rebellion” or “insurrection” arise.
