York-Antwerp Rules

On January 3, 2015, the car carrier Höegh Osaka, loaded with some 1,400 vehicles, was deliberately grounded on Bramble Bank in the Solent to avoid capsizing. The stranding and the refloating costs went into general average, and every vehicle owner had to post security before release. The York-Antwerp Rules are a private rule set that parties adopt by incorporating it into the bill of lading or the charterparty. They state what falls within general average and how the expense is shared. Lettered rules set out principles; numbered rules deal with concrete cases such as jettison, voluntary stranding, port of refuge expenses and cash advances. An average adjuster apportions the expense pro rata to contributory values fixed at the port of destination, and each interest must post security before its goods are released. The successive versions, from 1974 to 2016, mainly arbitrated the treatment of salvage remuneration, port of refuge costs and interest. The 2016 text was drafted to win back the cargo underwriters who had shunned the 2004 version. The problem solved: a deliberate sacrifice for the common safety should not fall on the single interest sacrificed, and national law alone could not apportion it across a carriage that crosses several jurisdictions.