IOPC Funds and Shipowners’ Club open joint Claims Submission Office for Princess Empress incident

Photo Credit: ITOPF

The IOPC Funds and the insurer of the Princess Empress, the Shipowners’ P&I Club, have decided to open a Claims Submission Office to facilitate the submission of claims for compensation resulting from the incident.

The Philippines is a Party to both the 1992 Civil Liability Convention and the 1992 Fund Convention. The IOPC Funds has therefore been following developments and working closely with the Club and the Government of the Philippines since the incident occurred on 28 February 2023.

More information about the incident may be found at the following page set up by the Shipowners’ P&I Club: www.princessempressinformationcentre.com.

Clean-up and response operations are ongoing.  Given the latest information reported, claims relating to this incident may exceed the limit of liability of the insurer under the 1992 CLC.  It is possible that the 1992 Fund will therefore be called upon to pay compensation.

Members of the IOPC Funds Claims Team travelled to Singapore to meet with the Shipowners’ Club during the week of 20 March.  They held discussions with the Club and local P&I correspondents from the Philippines and also remotely met with the Philippine Coast Guard.

It was agreed that the joint Claims Submission Office will be located in Calapan, Oriental Mindoro.  This central office will open during the week commencing 27 March 2023 and other smaller claims submission offices will open in affected regions over the next few weeks to allow claimants to submit their claims more easily.

Further details about the claims submission offices will be made available via an ‘Information for claimants’ page of the IOPC Funds website, which will also include claims forms and general information about the incident and the claims process.

The IOPC Funds will continue to liaise with key stakeholders, to monitor developments closely and will respond accordingly. It will provide a detailed report to the upcoming session of the 1992 Fund Executive Committee in May.