6 minute read
Turkish straits
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 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
salvage rewards were compared with what was rendered as a salvage operation.
When the insurers were recommended to challenge these unreasonable salvage claims, they were faced with exaggerated and excessive demands for securities which had to be a bank guarantee from a Turkish bank.
It is the claims management approach of the Directorate General of Coastal Safety to demand excessive securities and then to offer 30%-40% of the security amount as a settlement to avoid litigation. Even if 30%-40% of the security amount was still unreasonable in many cases where the total “salvage” operation was finished less than an hour without significant risk and expenses, the insurers were left in a difficult position. In most of the cases, they settled the exaggerated salvage claims.
Why we have seen so many engine problems and whether those claims could have been prevented are other questions.
In some parts of the Turkish Straits large course and speed alterations are required because of sea traffic and geographical conditions. From a loss prevention perspective, it is recommended to check everything, including engine operations, before entering the Turkish Straits because a small engine problem may lead to substantial salvage claims.
CONFLICTING SITUATION
boats that are allowed to fish all year. There is no doubt that transit vessels in the Turkish Straits proceeding in the traffic separation scheme have priority over local vessels and a boat engaged in fishing shall not impede the passage of any vessel following a traffic lane. On the other hand, collision cases which cause loss of life may change claims management. Loss of life after a collision will inevitably trigger criminal proceedings and should the incident cause multiple deaths and injury, Article 85/2 of the Turkish Penal Code requires imprisonment up to 15 years. During the criminal proceedings, there is a risk of detention in prison for masters and the relevant crewmembers while in some cases judicial restrictions such as prohibition to leave Turkey and to Controversial salvage claims will likely continue particularly report to the police station frequently are applied. because of the fact that the Directorate General of Coastal Personal injury claims in collision cases establish joint and several Safety operate salvage services, VTS and pilotage together. This liability for persons who died or injured in the incident. Therefore, conflicting situation will cause salvage claims even in the case of the ship interests are faced with substantial claims even if the short engine problems. But, there are ways to avoid such salvage majority or all of the liability rests with fishing boats. claims. The masters should be frequently notified that if the The ship interests cannot be forced to make unreasonable vessel’s position and surrounding circumstances allow there is settlements. But, the presence of both civil and criminal proceedings no obligation to accept salvage services in the Turkish Straits. may lead to early settlements to save costs and allow for better Dropping anchor may be a solution to keep the vessel’s position handling of criminal proceedings which will continue through the safe in case of loss of engine. prosecution process regardless of whether the complainants
In addition to the salvage claims, collision claims may be withdraw the criminal complaint. costly in the Turkish Straits. Thanks to one way traffic in the Bosporus, collision cases between transit vessels are rare. The majority of BOSPHORUS STRAIT SHIP TRAFFIC DENSITY collisions occur in anchorage areas of Istanbul where the traffic of anchorage areas is heavy because transit vessels enjoy one week transit time for supply and operational purposes. Also, because of the passage traffic there are many vessels awaiting entry to the Bosporus so the number of vessels staying in Istanbul anchorage is high. Collisions with fishing boats may cause serios consequences.
In the Bosporus and the Dardanelles, there is a high number of fishing boats. Some of them are big vessels that do not operate from mid-April to early September because of the prohibition of fishing. But there are many small fishing Source: MarineVesselTraffic.com
