Clause 16: Wages and Maintenance
No claim shall be allowed, other than in general average, for wages and maintenance of the Master, Officers and Crew, or any member thereof, except when incurred solely for the necessary removal of the vessel from one port to another for the repair of damage covered by the Underwriters, or for trial trips for such repairs, and then only for such wages and maintenance as are incurred whilst the vessel is under way.
CompareComments to ITCH
Wages and maintenance of Master, Officers and Crew are operational costs which are not recoverable as part of the costs of repairs.
For clarification of adjusting practice, it is useful to look at the Rules of Practice for the Association of Average Adjusters, where Cl. D1 deals with the expenses of removing a ship for repair. Removal costs incl. wages and maintenance of crew are allowable in full during removal to a repair yard, provided that the removal is an immediate consequence of recoverable damage and the ship is necessarily taken out of service especially to effect damage repairs, notwithstanding that the shipowner may have taken the advantage of effecting certain work for his own account. On the other hand, if damage repairs are deferred to a scheduled docking (meaning that the removal was required both for average and owners repairs), no wages and maintenance are paid by underwriters under this clause.
The allowance will be made only for the period when the vessel is under way, hence any period spent at anchorage will be excluded.
This clause does not preclude a claim for overtime and/or special payments made to the crew for example for their assistance in damage repairs. Such costs are allowable if reasonable.
NMIP Comparison
Wages and maintenance of the crew are allowed during both the removal period and sea trials after the repairs cf. Cl. 12-13.
Unlike the situation on ITCH, the insurers will cover such costs even when removal is required for both average repairs and owners` repairs. The allowance will be subject to apportionment as a common expense, ref Cl. 12-14.
During the repair period wages and maintenance of the crew are usually treated as owners ordinary operating expense and therefore disallowed according to NMIP Cl. 12-5 (a) The clause specifies however that the wages and maintenance of the crew participating in the repairs can be allowed, if agreed by the underwriters.
Overtime and/or special payments for crew participating in damage repairs are allowable.
The cover for wages and maintenance of crew allowed in General Average is equivalent to the ITCH cover.