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Charged Waters: The Crossed Currents of the Modern Day Yacht Battery.

Claims Market Briefing Underwriting

Old Library, Lloyd's Building 1 Lime Street, Moorgate, London, EC3M 7HA

9th September 2025 • 13.30 - 14.45

About this session

This one hour in person event hosted at Lloyd’s Old Library will be delivered in three sections:

Section 1 – Roeland Kort

The opening presentation will focus on cargo transit of batteries, highlighting the general risks encountered during transit, and how to identify and prevent damages to the batteries in transit as well as the surrounding goods in transit and ship itself.

Section 2 – Revel Boulon

Initial focus will start off on where hidden dangers exist with lithium batteries and the associated systems they interact with, nuances of how they are installed and where a lack of knowledge, even by the manufacturer, can oftentimes result in unexpected losses. Followed by a look at these new energy sources from an underwriting and risk perspective to better understand how to identify and mitigate when placing the risk.

Section 3 – Captain Nicholas Sloane

Super Yacht Infernos’ and the dangers of lithium-ion batteries. Over the past few years fires on super yachts have escalated and the reasons are now clear, the risks associated with ultra-high capacity battery storage systems and solar installations have increased the risks of uncontrollable fires. This section will explore the details of some of the risks, the thermal runaway fire and the challenges, including case studies.

The session will start at 1.45pm, tea and coffee will be available from 1.30pm. Please register to confirm your attendance for this in-person event, additional details will be emailed to you as the event date approaches

Learning objectives

At the end of this session, delegates will be able to:

Explain the general risks of batteries during transit and how to identify and prevent damages to batteries and surrounding goods/ship.
Identify the hidden dangers of Lithium batteries, nuances of their installation on yachts, where vessel manufacturers tend to get it wrong, and how to look at these new energy sources from an underwriting and risk perspective.
Describe the root-cause analysis of a “thermal runaway/s” of Lithium-Ion Batteries, the risks of the marine environment on Li-Ion battery management / charging systems, and actionable steps to prevent thermal runaway with relation to yacht specific losses

Roeland Kort

Commercial Lead, Netherlands, Caribbean & Suriname • Sedgwick

Roeland has been involved in the claims and shipping business for almost a decade. With a background in Law, the started his career in claims with an Icelandic Logistics Provider active in Europe and the rest of the world. After gaining extensive experience, Roeland joined the Sedgwick Marine & Transport department in the Netherlands.

At Sedgwick, Roeland has specialized in Logistics & Carrier Liability and since then expanded toward the role of commercial lead in Netherlands, the Caribbean and Suriname.

Revel Boulon

National Director, Marine • Sedgwick

Revel was born and raised in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and has been actively working and involved in the marine industry for over 20 years. His background was working on superyachts as a chief engineer and captain for almost 15 years, after which he made the transition into working as a marine surveyor and adjuster.

Revel joined Sedgwick in 2020 and was brought in to develop and build a Yacht Practice for the largest global claims handling firm. His initial role was, and still is, to lead Sedgwick’s Yacht Practice, which provides adjusting, surveying, investigative, and expert services to marine insurers and maritime attorneys. More recently, Revel was elevated to National Director Marine at Sedgwick and is part of Sedgwick’s Global Marine Leadership Team.

Revel works with Sedgwick’s clients in an advisory capacity providing full claims management services, liaising with clients, attorneys, salvors and vendors. Revel works with maritime attorneys to provide expert witness services and overseas all matters within Sedgwick’s Yacht Practice when they get handed over to legal counsel.

Captain Nicholas Sloane

Nick was born in Zambia, and finished school in South Africa – where he still lives just outside of Cape Town. He joined the merchant navy in 1980 with Safmarine and was appointed master in 1990 and salvage master in 1991. Nick has been involved for over 40 years in casualties and salvage since his first LOF in August 1983.

Nick has responded to incidents worldwide on a global basis. Major casualties attended include the Costa Concordia; Rena; Tasman Spirit; Jolly Rubino; Sealand Express; Tochal; Treasure; Ikan Tanda, Castillo del Bellver, Brillante Virtuosa – as well as seven oil rigs / aircraft recovery from deep water (SA Helderberg Flight 295), and well over a hundred other casualties, and Oil Spill responses around the world. Nick was involved in 7 shore-crossing pipeline projects around Africa and 3 in the Black Sea, the installation of SBM’s and Gravity-Base Control Buoy – start-up manager for the Caspian Pipeline Consortium – Russia, and the Angola LNG Project, the setting up Eco-Shelf Black Sea – to look after the Black-Sea CPC terminal oil-pollution contingency plans.

Nick is the recipient of multiple prestigious awards related to his work, as well as Italian Knighthood after the Costa Concordia recovery in 2014, and sits, and has sat, on various well respected counsels and boards as president, fellow and chairman.