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General Average: how the process works


The hold-ups caused by the Ever Given’s stranding in the Suez Canal are again highlighting what a complex and time-consuming process General Average can be, particularly when the giant containerships of today are involved


General Average (GA) is widely recognised in all maritime jurisdictions and is as old as maritime transport itself. General Average is a legal principle of maritime law according to which all interested parties to a ‘maritime adventure’ proportionally share any losses resulting from a voluntary and intentional sacrifice of part of the ship or cargo in order to save the remainder in an emergency. A GA event is defined in the York-Antwerp Rules (YAR) as


“when, and only when, any extra ordinary sacrifice or expenditure is intentionally and reasonably made or incurred for the common safety for preserving from peril the property involved in a common maritime adventure”. An example of a GA sacrifice would be a carrier jettisoning cargo to help the ship deal


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with a grounding incident. An example of GA expenditure would be the employment of salvage tugs if the ship suffers an engine breakdown.


Declaring General Average Following an incident, the master will make an initial assessment and inform the shipowners. Provided the incident meets all the required conditions, General Average may be declared. Whilst the combined cargo (rather than the ship) will often


proportionally hold the greatest value, it is the master, via owners/charterers who will generally declare GA; it is they who are usually the party directly handling the ‘event’ that is


Continued on page 14 May 2021


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