In 1982 Sydney started his professional career as a trainee officer and later as a first officer on chemical tankers in the Dutch merchant shipping trade. In 1988 he joined Robins Davies, the later GAB Robins where he managed claims for key Multinationals. During his career he has gained broad experience in handling technical Property, Construction and Liability claims almost exclusively in the industry, mainly Power, Construction and Petrochemical industries. Sydney’s areas of expertise include Machinery Breakdown with Time Element or BI losses specializing in Renewable Onshore power plants and traditional Power Generating Utilities including high-voltage transport systems.
In 1996 Sydney was one of the founders of Joosten & Partners, Vanderwal & Joosten (VWJ), a renowned name in the local insurance market for major and complex losses with a technical or engineering aspect. He is a member of the Board of Directors but still spends most of his time handling claims. In his role he has dealt with numerous cross-border claims and gained significant experience of the cultural challenges which international claims handling presents.
NOTABLE ASSIGNMENTS
- € 29 million loss relating to the fire of a 100,000 m3 naphtha tank which resulted in the complete destruction and time element losses
- Rotor earth fault and stator lamination damage of a Pumped Storage Power station leading to a € 3.5 million Machinery breakdown claim with Business Interruption loss.
- € 7 million fire incident biomass handling and processing system of a 800 MW Power Plant
- Cracks in low-pressure steam turbine rotors of 500 MW steam turbines with potential impact on MD and BI of € 40 million
- € 6 million damage to compressor and power turbine internals of 436 MW gas turbine
- Collapse of floating roof of 90,000 m3 crude oil tank resulting in Material Damages of € 4 million
- Steam turbine rotor rubbing during start-up leading to combined Material Damage and Delay in Start-up loss of € 4 million
- Multi-story water damage to Material Handling Equipment in Fulfillment Centre with multimillion DSU exposure
- Fire in engine room of hopper dredger vessel resulting in a € 3.5 million Liability claim on supplier of switchboards
