Marine Insurer Seacurus Launches South-East Asian Petro-Piracy insurance

professional marine insurance middleman, Seacurus, has advanced a petro-piracy endorsement which can be delivered to existing kidnap & ransom (KR) coverage cover. The insurance was advanced in response to the evolving threats to ships, their cargoes and crews whilst transiting the South China Sea, Malacca Straits, Indonesian Archipelago and Gulf of Guinea.

in keeping with latest figures posted by way of the global Maritime Bureau, South-East Asia accounted for 3-quarters of worldwide maritime piracy remaining yr after a surge in tanker hijackings helped to gas a 22 consistent with cent bounce in armed robbery and pirate attacks on ships in the place. There were 183 actual and tried incidents of piracy and theft concerning ships in South-East Asian waters final yr, in comparison to 150 in 2013.  within the Gulf of Guinea, meanwhile, cargo robbery is in all likelihood to remain on the schedule of Nigeria-primarily based crook gangs throughout 2015.

“The criminal reach proven by last year’s hijack of the tanker Kerala, coupled with the quantity of a hit and attempted assaults in 2014 and the lack of any evidence that such gangs were neutralised, shows that similarly attempts at cargo robbery will take location in 2015 across the place,” said Denis Nifontov, Head of Marine ok&R at Seacurus. “Ships’ crews are regularly exposed to existence-threatening situations as criminals take manage of and ransack vessels, stealing precious petro-chemical cargoes for business gain.”

Nifontov said Seacurus recognized the need for classic marine k&R cover to conform to offer all fascinated events with guarantee that every eventuality is blanketed.

Seacurus coverage protects crews in opposition to the capacity for a kidnapping scenario, and deliver and cargo owners in opposition to the risk of commercial enterprise interruption and belongings robbery. similarly to the benefits of a $1 million marine ok&R coverage, the cover consists of as wellknown lack of hire ($500,000), loss or robbery of cargo ($500,000), lack of bunkers ($250,000), and loss or robbery of money ($50,000) – all within an aggregate policy limit of $five million.

“for the reason that, with the aid of its very nature, criminal hobby is unpredictable, Seacurus believes that, for a small extra voyage fee, cover can be organized to present all parties to the maritime adventure peace of thoughts that their interests are insured,” Nifontov says.

Shipowners, charterers and cargo pursuits (who may be added to the coverage as co-insureds to cover their own pastimes within the voyage), can buy $five million of cowl for a seven-day voyage for an ordinary premium fee of $1,250, problem to an assessment of the usual underwriting statistics, stated the organization.

Seacurus Ltd is an FCA-regulated coverage dealer, based in 2004, focusing on bespoke sales protection cowl for the maritime enterprise. Seacurus hooked up the first delegated underwriting binding authority for marine kidnap coverage and is an permitted Lloyd’s Coverholder.