Loss of Hire Insurance guide– a Haakon Stang Lund Legacy
As the third edition of the Handbook on Loss of Hire Insurance is published today, Norwegian Hull Club manifests their position as the leading provider in the field.
The Handbook has been an important contribution to the Club, and no other person could be more suited to author the Handbook than Haakon Stang Lund.
As former Corporate Attorney for Norwegian Hull Club and long-time maritime lawyer, Haakon Stang Lund was not initially interested in Maritime Law and Insurance. "The topic didn’t appeal to me when I was a law student. Even so, I was still headhunted by Wikborg Rein, a law firm specialized in Maritime Law and Insurance".
The recruiters at Wikborg Rein knew what they were doing. Haakon was partner there for 30 years, with seven appearances before the Supreme Court and multiple appointments in mutual marine insurance associations before making the move to Norwegian Hull Club.
In 1996, Haakon was an active contributor to the Norwegian Marine Insurance Plan as secretary of GSK (Mutual Insurers Committee), and an equal active contributor to all subsequent versions of the Plan, from 2013 known as the Nordic Marine Insurance Plan. Shortly after contributing to the 1996 Plan, he started working on the first edition of the Handbook in Loss of Hire Insurance.
"While at Wikborg Rein, I was entrusted, together with partners Jon Heimseth and Trond Eilertsen, to write the Handbook on behalf of Norwegian Hull Club", Haakon says.
"We were working with a relatively new area of Marine Insurance on which there was not really any other textbook, and the Commentary to the first Norwegian Loss of Hire Conditions of 1972, largely the work of prof. dr. jur. Sjur Brækhus, became an important foundation of our work." Another important source of law was the Commentary of the 1996 Plan, which in Chapter 16 contain the current Norwegian/Nordic Loss of Hire Conditions.
With Haakon in the lead, the team managed to structure a comprehensive collection of material on Loss of Hire Insurance, and the Handbook is now part of the curriculum at the Norwegian Institute of Maritime Law at the University of Oslo.
The third and latest edition of the Handbook on Loss of Hire Insurance contains more case studies and examples than its predecessors, as Haakon has been working closely with the Claims Department at Norwegian Hull Club. Following an impressive career in Marine Insurance, the Book is Haakon’s final contribution to the field.
"Working with the third edition of the book was tough, and especially the final two months. I had officially retired from my position in the Club, and all I could focus on was to finish what I had started", says Haakon.
When the book was finished, Haakon was seated on a flight from Oslo to Los Angeles, to visit his daughter and her family. "That was my one demand. No matter how tough it would get, I had to finish the book before my trip. I already had the flight tickets", he smiles. "And I stayed overseas for a full month".
21. Jun. 2017