What it takes to be ship's captain

TWO pieces of public relations communications landed on my desk in past few days. Both ostensibly related to the qualities required of ship's officer or captain (or "master" in shipping industry parlance). One belonged to that strange, rarefied world of legal judgements. The other was firmly planted on the deck of a ship.

Legal decisions can seem baffling but even the industry veterans at mutual liability insurer UK P&I Club (UK Club) have been baffled by a recent decision. The insurers say: "According to the Dutch Court of Appeal, it would seem that masters of ships must also be masters of the unknown - on top of all the other job requirements. Odd? Yes - we thought so, too."

The background is that a recent case of a ship insured by UK Club involved a cargo of steel plates and coils loaded in China and discharged in the Netherlands. Naturally, the ship's voyage involved sailing through different climates. This voyage took place in winter, so she sailed from a cold China, through the warm Singapore straits nearing the equator and then back up into a very cold Europe. This allegedly caused damage to the cargo, for which the receiver sought to recover damages. The owners were seeking to deny liability on the basis that it was not the fa…