The marine assured's option to transfer ownership of the insured property to the underwriter and claim the full insured value.
Abandonment is the act by which the marine assured gives up ownership of the ship or goods to the underwriter and claims in return payment of the full insured value, as though the loss were total. It is not an option available at will: French law confines it to listed cases, among them total loss, unseaworthiness, absence of news of the vessel after a set period, and repair costs that would exceed three quarters of the value. English law proceeds differently, requiring a notice of abandonment served on the underwriter, who almost always declines it while agreeing that the case be tried as if it had been given. The effect of an accepted abandonment is a transfer of ownership, not a mere subrogation: the underwriter becomes owner of the wreck and inherits the duties attached to it, notably removal, which explains the reluctance. The problem solved is that of a loss that is total in practice but partial in law, which would otherwise leave the assured owning an asset of no value and expensive to dispose of.
After the bulk carrier Stellar Daisy disappeared in the South Atlantic on March 31, 2017 with 260,000 tons of iron ore and twenty-two crew aboard, the absence of news opened the case for abandonment without waiting for the wreck to be located, which happened in February 2019 at a depth of 3,461 meters.
abandon à l'assureur, notice of abandonment