American Club Surveys / Technical

The Club requires vessels to be surveyed to ensure that they meet the requisite standards for safety, construction, seaworthiness, cargo worthiness, crew management, and vessel management. Unless the vessel has recently undergone and passed a P&I Condition Survey by a marine Surveyor on its approved list, the Club will normally require a survey within 30 to 60 days of entry, depending upon the terms of the cover established by the Underwriting Department.

The Technical Department, in addition to arranging and reviewing the results of condition surveys on entered vessels also engages with Members on problem areas affecting operations; cargo, machinery, fuel issues etc. - and is available to assist Members with the numerous technical and logistical challenges which shipowners face in the day-to-day running of their fleets.

The Department also lends technical support to the Claims Department.

The Club may also require a condition survey under other circumstances, such as when the vessel:

  • becomes involved in a marine casualty, and
  • is found significantly deficient and/or detained by port State control, files a substantial claim or has a substantial claim filed against it, or if the Club receives a negative third party report about the vessel’s condition.

The Club will also require a Continuation P&I Condition Survey prior to the fourth renewal of cover.

When a vessel has undergone a survey in which the vessel has been found deficient, a list of deficiencies will be assembled in a report and submitted to the master. The Technical Department will also review the report to determine if it will recommend to the Underwriting Department that a defect exclusion clause is warranted.

If issued, the exclusion will usually remain in effect for any outstanding deficiencies under which the terms of entry are claused to exclude any and all claims arising either directly or indirectly from any of the outstanding defects enumerated in the deficiency list.

Defect exclusions remain in effect until such time as the vessel passes the survey requirement either by successfully undergoing a complete P&I Condition Survey, or following an incomplete survey or a survey in which outstanding deficiencies are found, is presented for and completes a Follow-up Survey satisfactorily.

The above explanation is not intended to in any way detract from or modify Club Rule 1 section 4 articles 39 through 41, which define survey requirements generally.


Instructions for Condition Survey Reports

The Plan of Rectification is a fillable PDF document which can be emailed directly to our survey department, or can be printed out and sent.

Plan of Rectification Form and Instructions  (PDF) 0.54MB   
Plan of Rectification Worksheet  (PDF) 0.59MB     (Fill out a separate worksheet for each item)

Survey forms by vessel type can be found in the second section on our forms page.

 

Contact:

Tony Smith

+1 212 847 4508

+1 646 407 6139

surveys@american-club.com