The new "Regulation on the Requirement to Obtain Insurance Coverage for Vessels against Maritime Claims and Supervision Thereof" which will be in effect as of 1st July 2011, has been subject to inquiries and questions of the P & I insurance market in Turkey. The main issue that needed clarification was how this Regulation will be implemented and what kind of documents will be required to be present on board in order to comply with the Regulation.
A meeting has been organized by the Maritime Undersecretariat in Ankara which was participated by the Harbour Masters of Turkish ports and major P & I correspondents in Turkey. During such meeting, these inquiries have been discussed and the Maritime Undersecretariat has assured that the requirement will be to seek original insurance policies to be kept on board, however, they will also accept Certificate Of Entries issued by P & I Clubs. They have also informed the participants that the website of International Group Clubs where list of vessels entered are declared is quite sufficient for them together with a copy of the CoE. The possibility of assistance that may be provided by the P & I correspondents has also been discussed and the Maritime Undersecretariat has informed that they will be ready to accept the confirmation reports of correspondent companies that are recognized by them as "well known" and "prestigious", regarding the existence of P & I insurance of vessels .
These confirmations reveal that CoE of vessels printed in the form of a PDF format, website information confirming insurance cover of specific vessel to a specific P & I club or written confirmation of P & I correspondents which are well known by Authorities will be acceptable. We must emphasize that we will see the exact application of the Regulation in terms of how specific Authorities will evaluate the documents on board, sufficiency of website information or what kind of a wording will be required from P & I correspondents with regard to confirmation of insurance cover, once the Regulation comes into effect.
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