Coast Guard with respect to vessels totaling nearly 25 million gross tons, Stockton Reinsurance reported yesterday.

And director and vice president of Stockton Re, Mr. Richard H. Black, said the administration of First Line will be relocated to Stockton Re's new corporate offices this coming weekend at Stockton House on Par-la-Ville Road.

First Line, which provides insurance for US Coast Guard Certificates of Financial Responsibility to ships entering US waters, placed the guaranties through more than 60 different brokers. COFRs demonstrate that a ship's woner can afford the costs of an oil clean-up in the event of a spill.

The administration of First Line is being taken over by British chartered accountant, Mr. Neil Clemens.

Mr. Black said that First Line continues to be the leading commercial insurance provider of guaranties in support of CoFRs for "blue water'' vessels and has issued about two thirds of all guaranties.

Mr. Black said: "The success of First Line is clearly attributable to the distinct attraction of a non-mutualised, non-assessable, fixed cost guaranty, issued by an insurer with substantial equity of its own and backed by an unlimited and unaggregated traditional reinsurance programme, with no risk of additional calls at any time.'' Mr. Neil Clemens