Hong Kong based marine insurers are finding increased opportunities to provide war risk cover at lower costs to shipowners from Hong Kong and Greater China.
The Arab War Risk Insurance Syndicate (AWRIS) has announced the reinstatement of Cargo War cover for shipments transiting high-risk maritime corridors, including the Strait of Hormuz, the Arab Sea, and Bab Al Mandeb.
The US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has announced that it would provide marine reinsurance in the Gulf region for losses of up to approximately $20bn on a rolling basis.
The insurance response to the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz in the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East has moved beyond incremental pricing, according to a brief by Dubai-based law firm Fichte & Co (Fichte).
The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI), whose members are national insurance and marine insurance associations, has said that the granting of war cover for the Persian Gulf and Red Sea is and will remain available under specific agreement on a single voyage basis as long as navigation is authorised by governments and flag states.
The granting of war cover for the Persian Gulf and Red Sea is and will remain available under specific agreement on a single voyage basis as long as navigation is authorised by governments and flag states, said the International Union of Marine Insurers (IUMI) in an official statement released yesterday.
The Joint War Committee (JWC), which counts syndicate members from Lloyd's in its ranks, as well as representatives from the London insurance market, has listed the waters around Bahrain, Djibouti, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar as high-risk areas, according to a JWC Circular.
As the war in the Middle East escalates, US President Donald Trump has ordered the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) to provide sweeping political risk insurance and unspecified guarantees for maritime trade.
(Re)insurers in the Middle East will be closely monitoring the conflict taking place in the region as it spreads across the countries in the GCC and the Levant region.
The situation across Middle East shipping lanes has escalated sharply, with substantial operational, navigational, and insurance implications for global trade as a result of the military conflict in the region that began on 28 February.