The wind over the north of the republic, which brought almost all public life to a standstill at the beginning of the week, has long since died down. But some people will not forget it for a long time yet. Because now it's time to clean up in many places.
Quite a few people also have to take stock of the damage they have suffered, including many boat owners. In hurricane Christian, not only were numerous house roofs blown off, trees uprooted and gardens devastated. The wind also wreaked considerable havoc in some marinas and winter storage facilities (the YACHT reported).
Immense extent of damage
It is not yet possible to predict how much the damage will ultimately add up to. However, according to the major yacht insurers, it is already clear that the outcome won't be a minor one. "Ships that have fallen off the bearing block in a storm do not necessarily have to be a total loss. Nevertheless, the repair costs will be immense," says Andreas Medicus from the Hamburg Yacht Insurance Schomacker. In the coming days and weeks, it will be the task of assessors and experts to determine exactly how high this is in each individual case.
They have already started their work, while more affected owners are still contacting the insurers. By Wednesday afternoon, the largest German boat insurance broker alone had received Pantaenius Over 100 damage reports were received, more than half of them by the Danish office. No wonder, as wind speeds of over 190 km/h were measured in the neighbouring country. Along the German coast, it was "only" 160 km/h.
The reported damage was spread equally across the North Sea and the Baltic Sea. Ships that were already ashore, i.e. in open storage or in the hangar, were mainly affected. In particular, tarpaulins and sprayhoods were blown away and torn. Trees fell onto yachts. And in one case, a sailing yacht sank in the harbour for reasons as yet unexplained, according to an initial interim assessment by Pantaenius.
No money without comprehensive cover
Lucky for all those yacht owners affected by the storm who had a Hull policy have taken out insurance. As a rule, they can assume that their insurance will cover the damage. However, those who are not insured or only have Boat liability contract If you have signed the insurance, you will in most cases be left to pay for the damage. For example, if the yacht has been blown off the bearing block or pushed against quay walls or jetties by a storm in the harbour.
And even if it is not the storm itself, but another yacht that has overturned and caused damage to your own ship, you will not normally receive any money if you have a liability policy. Neither from your own liability nor from the other party's liability, as many people mistakenly believe.
"According to the principle of fault-based liability under German law, a boat owner is only liable for damage caused by his own culpable behaviour. Consequently, boat liability insurance only covers damage where the injured party's claims against the party responsible for the damage are justified due to negligent behaviour," explains Thomas Gibson from Firmenich Yacht Insurance.
Opposing liability rarely has to pay
Gibson also points out in this context: "Negligence exists if, in accordance with Section 276 of the German Civil Code (BGB), the care required in traffic is disregarded - which must be proven by the injured party." So if it cannot be proven that the neighbouring boat that tipped onto your own ship was not properly braced, the injured party is left empty-handed.
Even if you have stored your boat in the shed, you are not on the safe side without hull insurance. If, for example, the warehouse roof collapses as a result of a storm and buries the boats stored underneath, in many cases neither the warehouse operator nor their insurance company will be able to recover a single cent. The reason: in the small print of most storage contracts, storage operators exclude all liability.
Whether such clauses are actually legally watertight must be clarified in court in case of doubt. Only if the judges deny this will you have a chance of receiving compensation from the warehouse operator's liability insurance without your own hull policy. A time-consuming endeavour.
And not only that. Even if the opposing party's liability insurance can be successfully claimed, it will only ever pay the current value of damaged equipment or, in the event of a total loss, the vessel. A good hull policy, on the other hand, includes appropriate Deductions "new for old" excluded. And with an insurance sum agreed as a fixed rate, you can be sure that, in the worst case, you will actually receive the sum stipulated in the contract. Depending on the age of the boat, you may not be able to buy a new boat with this amount, but at least a used boat of roughly the same value.
More on the topic Fault and strict liability and many other aspects relating to boat insurance in the YACHT online insurance special.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
