View the May news bulletin in full: IIMS News Bulletin May 2024 (pdf format) or click to read it in eReader format.
‘Lite’ podcast versions are also available to listen to. Yacht & Small Craft Surveyors (run time 17 minutes). Commercial Ship Surveyors (run time 19 minutes).
I knew it was too good to be true. The start of this year had heralded what seemed to be a sharp drop in the number of major maritime incidents and accidents reaching my desk. And then in late March along comes the collapse of the busy Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore wrecked in an instant having been struck by a ship. I offer my personal condolences to those who have lost loved ones in this catastrophe. At the time of writing, the exact cause is not known and it will be the aim of the formal, painstaking investigation to reveal the actual facts in time. But we now learn that the insurance payouts after this momentous event may turn out to be the largest in history, according to Lloyd’s of London chief executive John Neal. Speaking to Bloomberg News, he said, “This has the potential to be one of the largest marine losses in history.”