The insurance firm Chartis has introduced “loss prevention services” for yacht insurance clients within its US private client group.

Crew-member injuries are the number one cause of yacht claims, Chartis said, based on the claims experience of its private client group. Fire damage causes the most severe losses, however.

The new services aim to decrease the likelihood and impact of avoidable damage to yacht owners, Chartis said. They include:

- Background checks on crew members with access to vessels, families and valuables;

- Hurricane preparedness reviews to help with pre- and post-storm planning;

- Connections to safe harbor, dry dock and repair facilities for yachts that are cruising, out of port or faced with a storm; and

- Educational materials on yacht safety, including post-accident guidelines and live sessions with family members or crew.

While the above services are available to yacht policyholders, Chartis has introduced additional services for clients who want them. These include thermography (infrared images) to help detect leeks or problems with equipment; crew first aid, CPR and defibrillator training; an on-board safety and security equipment review; on-board art collection management; security consulting referrals for travel in high-risk areas; and boat lift, dockage and security reviews (this last is limited to policyholders in South Florida).

The list of services highlights the threat from piracy for yacht owners. There has been a recent decline in the number of piracy attacks on vessels in the Indian Ocean, but the risks are still high and more needs to be done to combat them, Commander Conleth Burns of the Royal Navy said at a recent yacht industry summit in London, attended by Family Wealth Report.

Some 27 vessels of all types were hijacked in 2011 and a total of 538 hostages were taken, while several attacks have happened since January. Between 2007 and last year, a total of 3,580 seafarers have been taken hostage; 78 seafarers have died in that time, the Superyacht Security Summit 2012 heard.

Some forms of cruise-line shipping business in the western parts of the Indian Ocean around Mombasa, for example, have almost completely dried up as a result of piracy, although other forms of traffic have not appreciably slowed, said Cdr. Burns, who works in the area of counter-piracy as part of efforts to combat the menace through EUNAVFOR Somalia, a European Union force.