What is Going on With Shipping? has a good video on 'who pays': * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wim-_Q_59o&t=10m17s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wim-_Q_

What is Going on With Shipping? has a good video on 'who pays': * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wim-_Q_59o&t=10m17s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wim-_Q_59o&t=10m17s TL; DR: it can get complicated. There is the owner of the vessel, the operator of the vessel, and the 'customer' of the vessel. An analogy used: when you have a delivery from Amazon, Amazon would be the 'customer' of the vessel, the delivery guy would be operator of the vessel, and he would have rented a vessel/vehicle from (e.g.) U-Haul. You would think that you'd sue the operator (delivery guy, and maybe the customer (Amazon)) if he wrecked your property, since he was driving it, but maritime insurance doesn't work that way: you sue the vessel owner (U-Haul). Then there's owner of the bridge (insured by Chubb), and then the re-insurance that Chubb has. Re-insurers are generally part of P&I clubs as well, so there's pooling of risk above the pooling of risk (which generally are activated in stages): * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_and_indemnity_insurance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protection_and_indemnity_insur... * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpBOptxuDnk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpBOptxuDnk Then there's force majeure: * https://www.handybulk.com/what-is-force-majeure-in-shipping/ https://www.handybulk.com/what-is-force-majeure-in-shipping/ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_majeure * https://www.bimco.org/news/contracts-and-clauses/20210216-who-is-responsible https://www.bimco.org/news/contracts-and-clauses/20210216-wh... See also general average: > The law of general average is a principle of maritime law whereby all stakeholders in a sea venture proportionately share any losses resulting from a voluntary sacrifice of part of the ship or cargo to save the whole in an emergency. For instance, should the crew jettison some cargo overboard to lighten the ship in a storm, the loss would be shared pro rata by both the carrier[2] and the cargo-owners. * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_average https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_average