Can expenses incurred negotiating with pirates be part of general average?

David Handley, of Clyde & Co, reports on the latest in the Longchamp case


In The Longchamp [2016] 2 Lloyd’s Rep 375, the UK’s Court of Appeal recently ruled on an issue that had not previously been before the English courts, on whether expenses incurred by a shipowner during a period of negotiation of a ransom following a pirate seizure should be an allowable expense in general average.