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Institute War and Strikes Clauses

Separate wordings that buy back, in a distinct market and on seven days notice, the war and strikes perils excluded from base marine policies.

Definition

Red Sea, late 2023: the Joint War Committee extends its listed areas in the southern Red Sea. Hull war premium moves from about 0.02% of the ship's value to close to 0.7% by the spring of 2024, several hundred thousand dollars for a single transit. Some owners take the extra 3,500 miles around the Cape of Good Hope instead. Base marine policies, hull and cargo alike, exclude war, capture, seizure, derelict mines and weapons, together with strikes, riots and civil commotions. The Institute War and Strikes Clauses write those perils back as standalone wordings, placed with specialist underwriters and rated separately. Cargo is rated per transit and hull per period, with an additional premium each time the ship enters a listed area. Their defining feature is reversibility. The underwriter can cancel on seven days' notice, and cover terminates automatically on war between the major powers. An annual premium set twelve months earlier cannot track a peril whose probability moves on a political decision. The JWC list can, and each revision shows up in premiums right away.

Its 7 cross-references, woven across the glossary's 18 categories
Institute War and Strikes Clauses: Transport glossary illustration, AlgoPolis
Example

In late 2023, the Joint War Committee extended, by circular JWLA-032 of December 18, 2023, its "Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden and Southern Red Sea" listed area. Hull war premium then moved from about 0.02% of the ship's value to close to 0.7% by the spring of 2024, several hundred thousand dollars for a single transit. Some owners preferred the extra 3,500 miles around the Cape of Good Hope.

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Sources
  • Joint War Committee, circular JWLA-032 of December 18, 2023 ("Indian Ocean, Gulf of Aden and Southern Red Sea" listed area)
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