Marine insurance is part of the plumbing of seaborne trade. It is essential, expensive and largely invisible until something goes wrong.
A shipowner typically buys hull and machinery insurance for physical damage to the vessel when going to dangerous places. They buy this from insurers taking the opposite side of “the trade”. It is not the only maritime insurance though. Protection and indemnity insurance, or P&I in short, responds to third-party liabilities such as injury, pollution, wreck removal and certain cargo claims. P&I is commonly provided by mutual clubs owned by their shipowner and charterer members, with large claims pooled and reinsured. [1]
The cargo interest
separately insures the goods according to the sale contract. The same casualty can therefore engage several covers, deductibles, exclusions and claims teams.
War risk sits alongside this ordinary structure. Standard marine policies limit or exclude war, terrorism, seizure and related perils, so owners and cargo interests arrange separate cover. In the hull war market, the Joint War Committee publishes Listed Areas where perceived risk is enhanced. [2]
INSURANCE HAS BECOME A DAILY PRICE SIGNAL FOR GEOPOLITICS.
A listing is a market reference point, not a tariff or prohibition. The actual terms are negotiated between the buyer and seller based on the vessel, ownership, cargo, route and timing. [2] An owner may receive a quotation for an additional premium, often calculated by reference to the vessel’s insured value, together with security conditions, voyage reporting requirements or a short validity window.
The point worth stressing is that cover is therefore dynamic. War policies can contain cancellation provisions that allow insurers to reassess an exposure and offer reinstatement on revised terms. [3]
Before fixing, the commercial question is not simply, “What is the insurance premium?” The parties must establish who pays it, whether cover remains valid throughout the intended voyage, what conduct or geography is excluded, and whether the master and owner will accept the transit. This makes trading to war zones incredibly complex.
03BLACK SEA & BLACK SEA
Three maritime regions are reshaping freight, insurance premiums and commodity flows.
RISK HOTSPOTS
INSURANCE IMPLICATIONS • Additional premiums • Vessel screening • Voyage declarations • Sanctions due diligence • Cancellation risk
02RED SEA
Route disruption Shipping attacks Energy infrastructure risk
SUEZ CANAL
PERSIAN GULF
SEA OF AZOV
Attacks on merchant vessels ⚠ Higher navigation risk ⚓ Increased port-call uncertainty
01 STRAIT OF HORMUZ
Attacks on commercial shipping
⚠ Safe passage concerns Insurance uncertainty
& THE PERSIAN GULF
RED SEA
BAB EL-MANDEB STRAIT
GULF OF ADEN Source: IMO, Joint War Committee, Open Source Intelligence
ARABIAN SEA
9 | ADMISI - The Ghost In The Machine | Q3 Edition 2026
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