The trend of the increasing ship sizes has major benefits for maritime transport, but a mega box ship casualty will result in a number of losses and third party liabilities for an owner. In this article, Revecca Vasiliou and Ursula O’Donnell, Divisional Claims Directors at the Standard P&I Club, discuss the major areas of P&I cover that respond to a major mega box ship casualty.
During the 2019 Hellenic American maritime Forum in Athens, Mrs. Elina Souli, Regional Business Development Director, V.P. – FD&D Manager, The American P&I Club, talked about the cost and exposure of P&I incidents, which has increased substantially.
The Strike Club informed that it will continue to provide marine delay insurance for operators in the Straits of Hormuz between the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. The Club reached this decision, despite rising political tensions in the area and recent attacks on six tankers.
An ongoing tension in the Middle East, in the wake of the recent tanker attacks in Gulf of Oman, has brought major insurance costs for oil tanker owners, who load cargoes from the world’s largest crude-export region. War risk premiums have now surged to at least $185,000 for supertankers.
The trend of the increasing size of ships creates more safety, as the frequency of shipping losses overall has steadily declined over the past decade. However, the cost of incidents has been increasing, driven in large part by the cost of claims involving large vessels, Allianz said in ts recent Shipping and Safety Review for 2019.
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.
JLT Insurance group focused on the phrase of ‘General Average’ and its meaning. The phrase is commonly used in the shipping sector covering marine energy policies including mobile offshore drilling fleets and offshore construction projects.
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.
Prof. Dr. Dieter Schwampe, Partner at Arnecke Sibeth Dabelstein, IUMI Professional Partner, talks about the sanctions that are taking place around the world, regarding Iran. The start was made with the termination of the US participation from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), on 5 August 2018, with EU following by publishing the Blocking Regulation.
Data and digitalisation will become an even more important issue for shipping and will be one of top priorities for the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI), was the key message of IUMI President Richard Turner, after setting the Union’s priorities for his term of office.
