Law & insurance
Safinah provides authoritative, expert advice on the whole chain of activities that links ships, structures, coatings and the environment.
We are an independent, expert consultancy and so have been called to act in a variety of claims on behalf of paint companies, loss adjusters, ship owners, refineries, facility operators and charterers.
Safinah in-house specialists provide advice and expert witness services on a variety issues:
- Speed loss and fouling
- Cargo contamination
- Poor adhesion
- Compatibility issues
- Causes of failure
However we would prefer to work with clients to avoid claims by:
- Improving the design of the vessel to prevent corrosion
- Understanding the coating process during new building
- Defining the operating environment
- Selecting the right products on performance as well as cost criteria
- Following paint company procedures and guidelines
- Being aware of the inspection regime and methods
- Having proper planned maintenance systems
First case study
- The client:
- A leading European based loss adjusting firm
- The project:
- To identify the cause of a coating failure and to assess the proposed method of repair.
- The loss adjuster, together with a number of Lloyds syndicates, was managing a claim resulting from a coating failure on an offshore structure.
- The outcomes:
- Safinah identified the extent of the liability by reviewing both shipyard records and on site records to assess if the application had been in line with the manufacturer’s specification.
- The method of repair was reviewed and an alternative more robust approach recommended for those areas that fell within the terms of the insurance.
Second case study
- The client:
- Ship owner & design consultancy
- The project:
- Expert witness to mitigate a claim by charterers for speed loss due to fouling.
- The outcomes:
- Safinah contributed to the assessment of the coating selected and its suitability for the trading pattern of the vessel and its last dry-docking. It also assessed the expected speed loss based on the naval architecture analysis of the problem.
- The client was successful in defending against the claim.
