Number of days allowed in a charterparty that a ship may use a dock for loading/unloading before demurrage is payable to the shipowner. The lay days may be either (a) fixed as to number; or (b) indeterminate dependent on the circumstances, e.g. ‘according to the custom of the port.
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The period which is allowed for the loading and unloading of the ship. The counting of lay days begins after the arrival of the ship and serving the notice to the shipper.
Insurance Encyclopedia
Lay Up Refund
Return of part of premium because a ship is laid-up and thus not subject to ocean perils.
Lay Up Warranty
Guarantee by Policy-holder that the insured ship will be laid-up and not used for certain periods. Since the vessel is not subject to ocean perils for these periods and premium charged can be lower.
Lay-up return/laid-up return
The return of premium allowed under the returns clause by marine insurers when the vessel is out of use.
Layer
A horizontal segment of the liability insured, e.g., the second $100,000 of a $500,000 liability is the first layer if the cedant retains $100,000, but a higher layer if it retains a lesser amount. See Pro rata.
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UK: a term used in mainly in reinsurance to denote a stratum of cover, for example, claims between £10,000 and £50,000 (which might be expressed as £40,000 excess of £10,000); insurance cover may be arranged in a number of successive layers, with different layers being covered by different insurers or reinsurers.
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REINSURANCE: The total amount of excess of loss reinsurance portion which an insurer needs to protect a given set of exposures is usually not written in one contract. Instead, the total amount is split into pieces or layers and separate contracts are written which fit on top of each other and have similar or identical terms but separate limits which sum to the total amount required. Each of the separate contracts in the series is called a layer or level in the total program.
Layer/layering
A horizontal stratum of cover within a structure of layers. For example, a primary insurer covers £100,000, the first excess insurer covers the next layer up to £200,000, the second excess insurers takes in excess of £200,000 up to £300,000 and so on. Layering spreads the risk among insurers or reinsurers and is applied to both property and liability insurances. See EXCESS INSURANCE.
Layering
The Ceding office retains the bottom layer of risk itself and the Reinsurer only have to pay claims above this level. For example, if the cedant had retained Rs. 1,00,000 of a Rs. 10,00,000 risk, the cedant would bear the first Rs. 1,00,000 of each and every loss and the Reinsurers would pay only that part of any claim in excess of Rs. 1,00,000.
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An arrangement whereby two or more Insurers each provide a rupee amount of Insurance coverage, or layer. The Insurer of the first layer is primary, thus responding first in covering a loss above any retention by the insured. Insurers of subsequent layers respond in sequence, as necessary, to cover any large loss. Layers are used in both property and liability Insurance. Also, See Also: “Layering, Reinsurance.”