When things go wrong
Most shipping accidents are weather-related but frequency of losses caused by grounding or machinery damage is increasing faster than any other cause
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SHIPPING is generally a much safer industry than it was decades ago, with many lessons having been learnt the hard way, but accidents still happen. When they do, two sectors of the marine industry come into their own, the insurers and the salvors.
Taking the insurers first, the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) held its Annual Spring Meeting in Hamburg last month. It became clear that several serious challenges to the marine insurance industry have emerged recently.
In its round-up of the meeting's discussions, IUMI pointed to statistics showing that the frequency of major vessel casualties rose again in 2016 for the second consecutive year. They had enjoyed a year-on-year decline until 2015 when they recorded a sharp upturn which continued in 2016. On the other hand, a trend towards fewer vessel total losses overall had continued. This situation was reflected by many markets reporting a reduction in frequency of claims but an increase in the average cost of the claim.
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