Contractual

The region comprising Latin America and the Caribbean is a busy one for the UK P&I Club. Some prominent Members have a large number of tons entered with the Club and have this region as their principal place of business. Moreover, many of the Club’s entered ships frequently call at Latin American and Caribbean ports regardless of where the Member is based, which can undoubtedly be anywhere in the world.  

With cargo’s newfound ability to go well beyond the vessel and even the port, container lines face new liabilities. The intermodal capability means that containers transit on public highways and railroads, areas traditionally excluded from P&I cover. This new type of risk has given rise to the Through Transport Club (‘TT Club’), a specialised transport and logistics mutual covering risks complementing P&I cover. Both covers dovetail with one another through corresponding cover and exclusions during ocean transit.  

Founded in 1543, Santos has been long known as a port city – first through the export of coffee and then other commodities. Santos was significantly modernised and expanded in the 1990s to incorporate new technologies, operating with specialised terminals for containers, general cargo, and dry and liquid bulk, and it is responsible for almost 27% of the country’s trade. Santos is considered the largest port in Latin America, with its docks being 25 km long and able to accommodate about 50 ships at a time.   

Hearing defects have consistently featured as a cause of PEME failures, and currently account for 11% of the Club's PEME unfitness statistics