Waterfront & Maritime
We help waterfront and maritime property owners obtain coverage to fund environmental cleanup by recovering historical insurance coverage, even on sites with contamination histories spanning back to the 1800s.
Waterfronts & Maritime Land and the Need for Insurance Archaeology Services
Waterfront properties, encompassing everything from waterfront homes to deep-water ports, have a rich history tied to commerce, manufacturing, industry, and military uses, from marine terminals and shipyards to fuel bunkering facilities and dry docks.
A frequent feature of such properties is the presence of creosote, a wood preservative historically used on pilings and bulkheads, which can leach harmful chemicals into water and sediments over time. Older ports, shipyards, and marine terminals may also carry contamination from polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), once common in shipboard transformers and hydraulic systems. Additional sources include petroleum releases tied to fueling and bulk fuel storage, and heavy metals from vessel maintenance and antifouling paint. The legacy of these contaminants requires careful navigation and remediation.
The key to addressing these environmental challenges lies in leveraging insurance policies from the 1970s and 1980s as a financial resource for cleaning up these intricate and costly properties. This is where the expertise of Restorical Research becomes invaluable.
How We Can Help
Environmental remediation at a waterfront or maritime property can represent one of the most significant financial burdens an owner or operator will face, often complicated by work that has to account for both land and adjacent water. Restorical Research is equipped to help waterfront and maritime property owners in several key ways.
Find Your Policy1.
We locate insurance policies from the 1970s and 1980s that can be used as funding sources for environmental cleanup and restoration efforts.
2.
A thorough investigation of your property’s history helps identify the full scope of industrial or commercial activities and their environmental impact. This often uncovers multiple occurrences which may increase the amount of coverage available for the cleanup.
3.
We review the nature and extent of contamination and the historical practices that caused it, along with their impact on the land and water surrounding your site.
4.
We prepare the claim and work with your team to tender the claim and obtain coverage. Once coverage has been secured Restorical will manage the claim, including accounting and tracking so ensure the cleanup is on track and timely with funding from the carrier(s).
5.
Our continuous support and expert advice guides you from initial policy recovery through environmental cleanup and property restoration or redevelopment.
Related Services for Waterfront & Maritime Sites
Restorical Research draws on the following services to address the specific challenges waterfront and maritime properties present.
Finding Lost Insurance Policies
We locate general liability policies tied to a waterfront or maritime site, even when the original carrier or policy documents can no longer be found.
Insurance Policy Reconstruction
For properties with histories spanning a century or more, original policy documents are often missing. We reconstruct coverage terms using secondary evidence.
Real Estate Advisory
We help buyers and sellers structure a transaction around the property’s environmental and insurance picture, including how historical coverage can affect the purchase price, cleanup responsibilities, and the closing timeline.
Assigning Insurance in a Purchase & Sale Agreement
When a waterfront property changes hands, we advise on whether and how historical coverage tied to the site can be assigned to the new owner as part of the transaction.
Site History
We document the layered commercial, industrial, transportation, and military uses a waterfront property may have had over the decades, establishing which operators and insurers were in place when contamination began.
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Environmental Review Services
We review the environmental record to support our trigger analysis and we focus on identifying the number of occurrences throughout time.
Case Studies
Insurance Archeology for Waterfront & Maritime Properties
No. The ability to use another party’s insurance does not just happen through land purchase. In most cases, general liability coverage must be transferred to another party through mechanisms like an Assignment of Claims. During a purchase such a transfer depends on the specific policy language and how the deal is structured.
Identifying available historical coverage before closing can inform how the purchase price, cleanup responsibility, and timeline get negotiated. Many buyers start this process during due diligence rather than waiting until after the sale.
No. An environmental assessment identifies contamination, not insurance. Coverage requires a separate investigation into the property’s ownership and insurance history, and a property can have a clean environmental report but still have valuable historical coverage worth researching, or vice versa.
Many carriers that wrote policies decades ago have since merged, been acquired, or entered insolvency. In many cases, a successor company or state guaranty association may still be responsible for honoring the original policy’s obligations.
Yes. Dredging is often a major cost component at waterfront sites in a way it isn’t for most other property types. Recovered insurance funds can be directed toward dredging alongside other remediation requirements.
