G06a.

3b Extraordinary nature of sacrifice or expenditure

* To be allowed in general average, a sacrifice or expenditure must be of an extraordinary nature, and not an
ordinary or every-day loss or expense incurred in running a ship and carrying cargoes.
* Losing an anchor in attempting to prevent a ship from running aground is not “extraordinary”, since that is what
anchors are meant to do. Losing an anchor laid out as ground tackle during a refloating operation would,
however, be “extraordinary”, and the cost of the lost anchor may be allowed in general average.
* Damage to a main engine through over-working whilst trying to prevent grounding would not be “extraordinary”,
whereas damage done during a refloating operation would be “extraordinary” and may be allowed in general
average.
* A wide variety of costs, even including small and, at first glance, insignificant expenses such as a superintendent’s
taxi fare to a shipyard at a port of refuge, may be regarded as “extraordinary” and may therefore be recoverable as
general average expenditure.

G06a.3c Sacrifice or expenditure intentionally made or incurred

* The sacrifice or expenditure comprising the general average act must be made intentionally, and not by or in
connection with some accident.
* When a ship’s CO2 cylinders are discharged in order to put out a fire on board, an intentional expenditure is
incurred which will usually be allowed in general average. The costs of wetting damage done to previously
undamaged cargo when a hold is flooded in a boundary cooling operation would also usually be allowed in general
average. (The costs of damage done by the fire itself would not be allowed in general average, however.)
* Beaching a leaking ship in order to prevent her foundering is an intentional act, the costs of which (including costs
of damage caused by the beaching operation) would normally be allowed in general average. The costs of repairs to
the damage causing the leak would not be allowed in general average, but would, if caused by an insured peril, be
allowed in particular average.
* The costs of refloating an accidentally grounded ship would be allowed in general average, since the act of
refloating is intentional. The costs of damage done by running aground, however, would not be allowed in general
average.

G06a.3f Sacrifice or expenditure to preserve the property from peril

* To be allowed in general average, a sacrifice or expenditure must have been made for the purpose of preserving the
property from peril, i.e. great danger.
* The peril must have been real and substantial, although it need not have been imminent. A vessel which lost
main engine power in mid-ocean would be “in peril”, even though the weather at the time might be good and there
seemed to be no immediate threat. Sooner or later, however, ship and cargo would come to grief, either by running
aground and breaking up or foundering, etc., so the cost of a tow to a port of refuge would normally be allowed in
general average.
* It might be argued that expenditure incurred in taking shelter from a tropical storm during a voyage should be
allowed in general average, since any tropical storm constitutes a real and substantial peril, and the action of
sheltering is for the preservation of all the property involved. Such action, however, would the ordinary practice of
prudent seamen. It would not be “extraordinary”, and would therefore not meet all of the criteria necessary to be
allowed in general average.