5.2 The 1907 Plan and World War I
The war risk regulation in the NMIP 1907 did not, however, suffice for the challenges which arose following the outbreak of World War I between1914–1918. When the war broke out in 1914, a major part of the Norwegian commercial fleet was trading in European and North American ports.(1)Krigsforsikringen for norske skip, Oslo 1936, p. 9, Towsen p. 28. The mutual associations had inserted a clause covering war risk if the port of departure or port of destination was not, to the knowledge of the assured, at war at the point in time when the vessel started to sail. The vessel was covered at sea, but if during the voyage it received information about war or risk for capture, it had to sail to the nearest neutral port.(2) Towsen p. 28. With France, Russia, Great Britain and Germany as warfaring nations, the cover for war risk automatically ended if the vessel sailed to these countries. Norwegian vessels could only sail in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the White Sea and the English Channel either with special war risk insurance or else without insurance.(3)Krigsforsikringen for norske skip p. 9, Towsen p. 28. War risk insurance was difficult to obtain and the extent of cover uncertain.(4)Krigsforsikringen for norske skip pp. 9–10. This can be illustrated by the Tysla case:(5) Schelderup: Krigsforsikringsreglene for Skib og deres anvendelse under verdenskrigen, Krigsforsikringen for norske skib, 1927, p. 19 ff.
D/S Tysla was hit by a Dutch torpedo and sank on 7 August 2015. The 1907 Plan § 39 covered damage because the voyage was affected by war, due to an act by the enemy. The question was whether the use of the torpedo was an act by the enemy, since the torpedo was from an allied country. The admiralty court decided in 1916, confirmed by the Supreme Court on 16 January 1918, that this was the case, and that it did not matter whether the torpedo was sent by an enemy for the purpose of attack or by an allied state for the purpose of defence.
The problem of obtaining war risk insurance resulted in the establishment of a mandatory mutual war risk insurance through legislation on 21 August 1914 that lasted until the end of the war, in order to provide for a better cover.(6) Towsen p. 28 ff. Even though now organized differently, the establishment of a separate war risk association has been retained in the Norwegian marine insurance market, cf. below 5.4.