Case 2 Typhoon Maemi, Korea - Global Claims Handling

The Club's membership is spread over six continents and, by the international nature of their business, many of its members will be exposed to liabilities all over the world at any one time. For instance, a European freight forwarder may face a claim in Australia, while a terminal operator in southern Asia may damage a US-owned ship; or a Japanese-owned ship carrying several thousand containers, could arrive in a port in Africa, having been hit by a storm, with many of its containers damaged or lost. Each of these requires an immediate response, but the expertise required on each occasion will be different.

The TT Club recognises that, in the international transport business, incidents can happen anywhere and at any time and has created its unique claims-handling service to meet the challenge, no matter how big or how complex the damage. Even where an incident is confined to a relatively small area, there is often a need to involve a number of different offices, each with its own particular special area of expertise. One such incident involved a member in South Korea.

The severest typhoon since records began a century ago struck the country on 12th September 2003. The high winds blew over five large container cranes and caused considerable damage to other port facilities and equipment. Several hundred containers were crushed underneath the tangled mass of collapsed cranes. The first estimates of the damage were around US$ 40 million. In response to the incident, a team was quickly assembled and an action plan formulated. A claims executive from the Club's Hong Kong office immediately flew to Korea, where he was joined within three days by the Club's crane expert from London and loss adjusters from Hong Kong and Singapore. The team in Korea was backed up by claims handlers in Hong Kong while their colleagues in London provided specialist advice, dealt with claims from European members whose equipment had been damaged and handled press enquiries.