Crawford’s global marine team comprises over 230 experts with deep experience across a wide range of disciplines. Here, Mike Robertson, P&I services manager, and Charlotte Waller, crew claims executive, look at the growing problem of stowaways in the Horn of Africa.
Crawford Marine’s crew claims team has recently seen an increase in stowaway activity from the port of Djibouti, on the Horn of Africa.
Lone stowaways are targeting vessels bound for ports of call in Europe and, when discovered, claim to be from Eritrea or Somalia. Both close to Djibouti, it’s believed that stowaways are naming these countries to gain sympathy from European immigration authorities due to previous conflicts in the region.
Protection and Indemnity (P&I) Clubs are mutual, not-for-profit insurance associations operated by shipowners and charterers to provide coverage through risk-pooling for third-party liabilities (such as pollution, injury, or cargo damage) that conventional marine insurers do not cover.
On behalf of these P&I Club clients, Mike Robertson and Charlotte Waller have been working closely with vessel managers and ships masters to establish the identity and nationality of stowaways discovered after embarkation. Masters have been advised to conduct searches of the stowaway’s belongings and to share copies of any paperwork discovered, with mobile telephones being a particularly useful source of information – provided they can be accessed.
Once a suitable level of information has been gathered via written questionnaires, interviews through interpreters, and searches, our team can then conduct background checks into the stowaway’s actual nationality. Once that’s established, the team can then approach the appropriate Embassy or Consulate to apply for formal travel documentation.
That proper travel document then allows the Crawford Marine team to work closely with the P&I Clubs’ networks of correspondents at upcoming ports of call to coordinate disembarkation and repatriation of the stowaway at the earliest landfall.
The Crawford Marine team also has close contacts with the security departments at many international airlines and can leverage these to obtain the additional ‘permission to fly / transit’ documents needed to arrange travel for stowaways without passports.
In more challenging cases, international escorts can be called on to assist in a repatriation operation. Widely recognised within the airline industry, these are skilled and experienced escorts who have operated in the U.S., Europe, Africa and Asia for many years.
Crawford Marine’s highly experienced in-house experts and pragmatic approach to dealing with stowaway documentation and repatriation delivers positive and rapid results for P&I Clubs.
This ability is driven by such expert-led and hands-on events as the Marine Familiarisation Tours, designed to provide invaluable knowledge for marine claims handlers and underwriters, and to help close the gap between theory and real-world operations.
From cargo vessels and ports to logistics and crew welfare, the maritime industry operates in a high-stakes environment. Crawford’s Marine services help clients respond confidently and efficiently to loss events, wherever they happen.
Find out more about the full Crawford Marine service here.
