Marine Log - August 2007 - (Page 14) Update HOS to acquire Sea Mar fleet Hornbeck Offshore Services, Inc. has entered into a definitive asset purchase agreement with certain affiliates of Nabors Industries Ltd to acquire the 20 offshore supply vessels for $186 million, plus the cost of any fuel inventory on such vessels. The Sea Mar Fleet consists of ten 200 class DP-1 new generation OSV’s and INLAND • COASTAL • OFFSHORE • DEEPSEA 10 conventional OSV’s. Previous plans for SEACOR Holdings Inc. and Nabors to form a joint company to own and operate the Nabors Sea Mar fleet of 20 OSV’s has evidently fallen apart. WQIS broadens marine pollution liability insurance coverage “Pollution legislation is always changing and being amended, and states have become more aggressive, so you can’t be doing business as usual,” says Russ Brown, vice president of Underwriting for the Water Quality Insurance Syndicate (WQIS). “When it comes to pollution, states aren’t going to leave it to the federal government. They might come out operators under statutes such as the Migratory Bird Act.” WQIS is the largest m a r i n e Russ Brown, VP, pollution Underwriting, liability WQIS underwriter in the U.S., covering some 40,000 vessels ranging from tugs to tankers. WQIS covers shipyards for contingent liability as well. That’s why WQIS has created its 2007 Policy Form. The overall policy has been simplified by including and clarifying several endorsements while the coverage itself has been expanded, making it the most flexible and complete insurance coverage for today’s marine industry. “This was done simply to clarify and broaden our coverage” says Brown. “When WQIS was formed,” explains WQIS president Richard Hobbie, “it was in response to the first imposition of strict liability for vessels and encompassed clean-up costs only. We operate in a different world now. The policy form has been updated throughout the years, but this version marks the most complete and aggressive change in the fixed premium market since the passage of OPA ‘90.” The new Policy Form was spurred by a combination of the new OPA regulations announced last year, brokers’ desire for a clearer, more concise product and the need for assureds to be protected in an everchanging, stricter operating environment. The new Policy Form broadens coverage by including the new limits specified by the government and combines several endorsements into the main policy and automatically including several optional coverages. FOLLOW YOUR MOUSE to the latest breaking news at www.marinelog.com 14 MARINE LOG AUGUST 2007 www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com http://www.marinelog.com
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