Italian owner facing drug loss

War risks underwriters have won the opening battle in a legal dispute over an Italian controlled bulk carrier that became a constructive total loss as the result of a drug smuggling seizure in Venezuela.

An Enrico Bogazzi linked company claims that a more than four year detention of the 38,000-dwt B Atlantic (built 1983) entitles them to a total loss payout under a war risks cover.

But the New York based Navigators Insurance Co, which writes war risks cover through the Lloyd’s of London syndicate 1221, argues that while there is cover for capture, seizure, confiscation or expropriation of a vessel under the policy there is a specific exclusion covering “restraint, detainment, confiscation or expropriation under quarantine regulations or by...