Marine war risk
Cover protecting ships and cargo against war, piracy and seizure perils, excluded from standard marine policies.
Marine war risk designates the specific cover protecting ships and their cargoes against the perils of war, armed conflict, mines, piracy, seizure and confiscation, perils traditionally excluded from standard hull and cargo policies. This distinct cover is bought separately, often with short-notice cancellation clauses allowing the insurer to quickly revise terms as geopolitics evolve. High-risk navigation areas attract surcharges calculated per transit, according to the route's actual exposure. Tensions in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf or the Black Sea illustrate this line's sensitivity to geopolitical events, which can abruptly shift rates and capacity availability. For the underwriter, marine war risk combines an accumulation exposure, several ships possibly hit by a single event, and a market volatility highly dependent on international news.
Textbook case: a container ship transiting a maritime conflict zone pays a war surcharge calculated per transit, revisable at short notice as tensions evolve, as in the Red Sea after the seizure of the Galaxy Leader on November 19, 2023.
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