The International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC) has successfully defended a shipmanager against a negligence claim from a shipowner following the loss of a lifeboat in Japan.

ITIC said the boat was found drifting off the port of Naze after the master reported it missing from an unnamed vessel.

"In view of the cost of deviating the ship to recover the lifeboat, compared to the cost of replacing it, it was decided, in consultation with hull underwriters and the vessel’s P&I club, to abandon it," it added.