Ballast interview.

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The Marine
Surveyor

By: Marcela Corzo

Ted Crosby has been working as a
Marine Surveyor for 37 years, and
is associated with ACE Marine
Advisory Services in Plantation,
Florida. He has done many kinds
of surveys; i.e., cargo, commercial
vessels, yachts and marine
facilities, such as boat yards, boat
builders, yacht clubs and even
marinas all over the world.

His company is a Principal Marine
Surveyor for an insurance company
and he is a member of National
Association of Marine Surveyors
(NAMS).

I sat down with Mr Crosby to ask
him some questions about his
profession and some of the work
his firm does.

I learned, essentially, that when-
ever there are vessels and cargo to
be bought or sold, and there is the
possibility of an insurance issue or
need, marine surveyors are used to
determine cost, value and
apportionment. Here are some of
his insights into the marine survey
industry.

Q: What is the role of a Marine
Surveyor in the Marine Industry?

A: "It depends on for whom the
Marine Surveyor is working. In
my case, I do yacht condition and
valuation surveys for insurance
underwriters. Usually I am trying
to obtain information that will
enable me to tell the underwriter
what it is they are insuring.

"Another purpose for a marine
survey is for marine insurance
claims. If boats are damaged, I
will do what is called a "claim
damage survey" to determine the
nature, cause and extent of the
loss.

"There are also Cargo Surveyors
who do surveys for cargo owners.
This may consist of a survey on
items such as packaging and
packing, or it may be a loading
and stowage survey, in a railcar,
truck, train or airplane. A
surveyor can also do "out-turn
surveys" that will tell you the
condition of the goods when they
arrive at their destination.

"Most yacht surveys are
"purchase surveys," and are done
for a client who is buying a new
or used boat. This type of survey
usually requires more detail than
the "underwriting" or "condition
evaluation" survey."

Q: What are the liability
limitations on a boat?

A: "The first consideration is the
boat and its construction. You
want to look at its power and what
it was designed to do. Then, you
look at its ownership: who owns
it, what is their level of experience,
and how are they going to use it.

"If there is anything unusual or
untoward about any of these things,
the underwriter may not want to
write the insurance for that boat; or
they may put limitations on where it
can be used or how it can be used.

For instance, they may say for a
very large boat, like 75' or 80', that
the owner of the boat is not
qualified to operate it and he must
hire a captain.

"Some underwriters may say they
don't want to write insurance for any
very fast boats, say that do more
than 70 mph; so they limit their
underwriting to boats with speeds
slower than the ceiling they have
set. Other insurance company
underwriters may like to write
insurance for boats that go faster
than 70 mph.

"There are certain types of things
that different or specialty
underwriters may or may not
underwrite depending on their areas
of interest. That is the type of
information I need to find out as a
surveyor when I am surveying a
boat.

Q: Where does the word
"underwriting" come from, and
what does it mean?

A: "It is a very old term. It
originated in the Coffeehouses of
London, back in the early days of
marine insurance.

"The term "underwriters" came
about as groups of monied people
met in the coffeehouses, and people
would bring a risk to them to insure,
like a cargo risk or a big commercial
ship. They usually could not get
one person to cover that insurance

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risk, but maybe 3 or 4. or even 10
or 20 could do it together and
cover the entire risk.

"The certificate, or offer, was put
on the table, and if you were a
person who wanted to take a piece
of insuring that risk you signed
your name under it. So, you
"underwrote" your name by
accepting a portion of the proposed
risk. As an example, let's say Ted
Crosby takes 5%; someone else,
like John Smith, takes 10%, and so
on.

"When the ship owner or the cargo
owner got 100% signatures, the
policy was totally underwritten.
All of the persons who were
"written under" accepted the risk of
the ship or cargo; therefore they
were the underwriters for that
insurance policy."

As indicated by Mr, Crosby's
responses the role of the marine
surveyor is varied and unique. As
long as vessels are bought and sold
and as long as they travel across
the waters of the world carrying
goods and/or passengers, there will
be a need for the marine surveyor