Tag: IUMI

During the International Maritime Organization's (IMO) Sub-Committee on Ship Systems and Equipment (SSE) Gard discussed about containership fires from the insurer's perspective and the challenge they appear to be for the maritime industry, recommending solutions and technologies that can improve the existent situation.

The container vessel "EM-Oinousses" experienced an engine room fire while it was sailing  from Maputo to Mombasa, which the crew was able to put out, but the vessel ended up sailing uncontrollable. A salvage company conducted salvage operations and its helped the crewmembers onboard to safely disembark at the port of Nacala, without any injuries, on January 21.

Cargo fires are not only an environmental concern but also cause large losses leading to severe business disruption and operator’s reputational damage. No matter how we have progressed on tackling with firefighting onboard, it can only take one container to start a fire onboard a large vessel.

The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) has released its 2019 statistical report, presenting a variety of statistical data for the maritime sector and the insurance market, highlighting the global uncertainty in the shipping industry and how this affects trade, the oil and gas industry, as well as the offshore sector.

The shipping industry has witnessed many fire incidents on container ships this year, some of which have resulted to fatalities and others to economic losses; Thus, IUMI, in a recent forum, took the chance to alert on the situation and call the shipping industry to improve its existent onboard firefighting systems and seafarers' training, as both seem to lack of efficiency in these challenging times.

Speaking at IUMI's (International Union of Marine Insurance) annual conference in Toronto, Canada, Sean Dalton, Chair of IUMI’s Cargo Committee reported that the marine cargo market is in a state of 'accelerating change', driven by underwriters taking action to address unprofitable results and to improve performance.

The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) presented its analysis of the latest marine insurance market trends. Specifically, marine underwriting premiums for 2018 were recorded at USD 28.9 billion, marking a single percentage point growth from 2017. According to IUMI, with significant challenges facing the market, the modest increase is not significant to indicate an upturn in the fortunes of the marine insurance sector.

As the shipping industry has been shaken by a wide range of new technologies and digital innovations over the last years, there is an obvious lack of clarity and standardisation for the future, which requires a proper risk appreciation by the marine insurance industry, argues Henry Cunnington, Associate, Clyde & Co.

In an exclusive interview with SAFETY4SEA, Mr. Richard Turner, President of IUMI shares, his perspectives on the key challenges impacting the marine insurance market, noting that technology is going to play a major role by changing the current landscape. Technology and digitalization can be viewed as both a risk and an opportunity, Mr. Turner adds.

Although the global fleet continued to grow at around 3% in 2018, the number of total losses (vessels over 500GT) stood at a 20-year low. However, the continued erosion of the global premium base means that attritional losses are becoming much more significant, said IUMI.