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MARINE CLAIMS | Turkish straits In association with Cavus & Coskunsu
Trouble in transit Caglar Coskunsu, partner at Istanbul-based specialist law firm Cavus & Coskunsu, provides a guide to navigating through the often complex world of marine claims in the Turkish straits
The Ever Given incident reminded us all of how important strategic trade routes are and the consequences when a main shipping route is disrupted. Strategic and narrow passages providing passage through or to another region are called as choke points. In shipping, choke points may refer to straits or canals with high density of sea traffic because of their geographical positions and their optimal use in maritime trade. Long before the Ever Given incident, alternatives to carriage of goods by sea had been explored. The “New Silk Road” was offered as an alternative for carrying goods with freight trains. In the oil and gas industry, there are major pipelines which are designed to distribute oil and gas economically and safely and also to save time and avoid some risks in maritime choke points. However, given the current carrying capacity of ships, it is difficult to say that the dominance of shipping will end in international trade soon.
TURKISH CHOKE POINT The Turkish Straits are one of the major choke points in the world that is a unique system of waterways consisting of two narrow channels, Bosporus and Dardanelles and an internal sea, Marmara, connecting the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. The Turkish Straits are the main trading routes for countries in Black Sea region. The passage of ships through the Straits is governed by the Montreux Convention, signed on 20 July 1936. This convention is not only about the passage of merchant vessels, but for the purpose of this article, it is important to The Marine Insurer Claims Edition | September 2021
mention that it provides free passage to merchant vessels. However, the Montreux Convention does not include regulatory provisions for safe navigation during passage through the Turkish Straits. For this reason Maritime Traffic Regulations for the Turkish Straits were implemented in 1994 and later traffic separation schemes of the Turkish Straits were approved by the General Assembly of International Maritime Organization (IMO) in November 1995. To enhance the maritime traffic and the environmental safety against risk and dangers, Vessel Traffic Services became fully operational on 30 December 2003. Today, there is one-way traffic in the Bosporus and the navigation in the Turkish Straits is safely operated by the VTS that is a department of The Directorate General of Coastal Safety. However, the former does not mean that the Turkish Straits are a “claim free zone”.
COMMERCIAL LOSSES Salvage and collision claims cost millions to the insurers and the ship and property owners suffer from substantial commercial losses. In 2021 alone at least 21 vessels are reported to have experienced engine problems in the Turkish Straits. In most cases the engine power of those vessels was restored within a short period of time, in some cases within minutes. But the Directorate General of Coastal Safety, a state-owned company that has monopoly rights in the Turkish Straits for salvage operations, made salvage claims based on the percentage of the value of ships and properties on board and disproportionate
