Aon News

A new offering from North is designed for larger ocean-going vessels and will complement the H&M insurance already available from Sunderland Marine for fishing vessels and other small craft. WeThe P&I club expects the new line will be taken up by a number of Members, whilst it is also open to non-Members. The focus from an underwriting perspective will be on quality of risk and suitability of terms.In support of the product, North has added significant underwriting expertise from…

Aon and HudsonCyber are joining forces to provide enterprise-level cyber security capability assessment, integrated cyber breach response, and mitigation support to the global marine industry.“We see a real need for collaborative thinking in respect of an enterprise level cyber security methodology for our clients," said Lee Meyrick, CEO of Global Marine at Aon. "It is important to understand cyber risk exposures, mitigation strategies and maximizing the effectiveness of their programs.”Bringing together Hudson’s HACyberLogix cyber security assessment program and Aon’s cyber risk transfer…

Deal builds on Auxo’s December 2017 acquisition of leading dry-bulk transportation and logistics company, M/G Transport Services. Private investment firm Auxo Investment Partners announced today that it is partnering with the Andrie family with an investment in Andrie LLC, a Michigan-based Jones Act bulk transporter of specialty products including liquid asphalt, cement, light oil petroleum products, and calcium chloride throughout the Great Lakes. The deal, terms of which were not disclosed…

Emerging recovery for segments of global shipping industry; Nordic American Tanker and Dryships Inc among popular stocks. Shipping stocks may still be in the doldrums in the view of many investors, but hedge funds have bet at least $675 million on signs of renewed buoyancy in the industry. Hedge funds made initial forays into shipping stocks in the third quarter of 2017, but significantly stepped up their bets in the final three months of the year, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings compiled by Symmetric show. "Shipping has been in a terrible trough for a number of years," Chris Walvoord, global head of hedge fund research at investment consultant Aon Hewitt, said. "Hedge funds are starting to see opportunity ...

Marine insurance provider Skuld announces the appointment of Paul Knighton as global head of marine cargo and marine property. He will join Skuld Syndicate 1897 in the summer. Knighton will enhance Skuld’s well-established marine cargo and marine property portfolio by building its offering to clients. He will focus predominantly on developing a total solution product for ports, terminals and freight logistics operators. Knighton will join Skuld from the TT Club where he has been a senior underwriter since 2012. Prior to working at the TT Club, Knighton has held roles at Craven and Partners, Aon and Lockton. Ståle Hansen, Skuld president and CEO, said: ‘I am delighted to have attracted an underwriter of Paul’s calibre.

RMS has published a new report examining the current state of cargo modeling in the marine market, and providing a new cargo-specific approach to the assessment of vulnerability and port accumulation. The report “Marine Cargo Catastrophe Modeling: Navigating the Challenges, Charting the Opportunities” precedes the May 2016 launch of the RMS Marine Cargo Model, the industry’s first marine cargo and specie risk model. In the last four years, records have been broken twice for total insured marine losses—first for Hurricane Sandy in 2012 at $3 billion, then the explosions at Tianjin last year, reported to be $5-6 billion. While these two events have underscored the need for the industry to a develop a much deeper understanding of the risks…

Who – shipowner or insurer – should bear the costs of any action taken to prevent a stricken vessel from getting into further costly difficulties? A seminar organized jointly by the Association of Average Adjusters and the International Underwriting Association heard that the market had long wrestled with the arguments, and that considerable uncertainties remain. The London event was given an outline of the main provisions of what could count as ‘sue and labor’ – a clause in marine policies under which the assured can recover reasonable expenses for minimizing or averting an insured loss.

Port Metro Vancouver informs that it has released its fourth annual Sustainability Report and 2013 Financial Report. Both reports together cover the period of January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2013 and provide a summary of Port Metro Vancouver’s overall performance. The report is a  Global Reporting Initiative B+ level, independently assured report that provides information on the sustainability topics of greatest significance to Port Metro Vancouver and its stakeholders. It is designed to provide greater transparency and accountability in how Port Metro Vancouver conducts business, and to offer a platform for sharing performance and receiving feedback.

Port Metro Vancouver joins the 2012 “Green 30” list of Canadian organizations whose employees are most positive about environmental stewardship. The list, compiled by Aon Hewitt, is based on employee opinion data collected as part of the annual Best Employers in Canada study and Best Small and Medium Employers study. Over 190,000 employees and 2,500 leaders in 280 organizations participated in the 2013 edition of these studies. “We are very honoured to be named to the Green 30 list, as it recognizes our employees’ support of the sustainability and environmental programs that we have been implementing,” said Darrell Desjardin, Director of Environmental Programs at Port Metro Vancouver.

At the 151st Annual Meeting of the Members of ABS, and the subsequent meeting of the ABS Council, industry leaders were elected to serve on a number of bodies that contribute to the operation of the classification society as it fulfills its mission of promoting the security of life and property and preserving the natural environment. "ABS' strength as a global classification society is drawn from its membership and the many regional, national and technical committees that contribute to the process of developing practical, impartial and authoritative standards," said ABS Chairman Robert D. Somerville. •    Robert G. •    James G. •    Maria F. •    Chow Yew Yuen, Keppel Offshore & Marine USA Inc. •    Dr. Jen-Hwa Chen, Chevron Shipping Co. •    Dr.

The Passenger Vessel Association (PVA) recently distributed the following to advise its members regarding terrorism insurance. The shocking events that occurred on September 11 took all of us by surprise. Since then, we've all started to ask ourselves some basic questions that will help us to protect our companies, property, and employees from further harmful situations, if they should occur. One of these important protective elements is insurance. Many vessel operators who need more information about how to protect their businesses have approached the people at Aon Risk Services, the PVA Endorsed Insurance Program. There has been some conflicting information was to whether Terrorism/Malicious Acts are insured under the PVA Insurance Program.

AON, a global leader in risk management and insurance brokerage, has launched the Port Facility Security Toolkit (PFST) internationally. The Toolkit, which was developed primarily for port authorities around the world will comply with the International Ship and Facility Security Code (ISPS code) regulations. Working together with the Port of Rotterdam, AON’s s system will translate the ISPS code into an efficient, user-friendly, web-enabled software tool enabling port facilities to carry out a risk assessment and generate an Action Plan and a detailed Port Facility Security Plan. KPMG Qubus, specialists in automated risk assessment, developed the software in WebQubus.

The International Underwriting Association, Lloyd's and the Lloyd's Insurance Brokers' Committee have unveiled a jointly agreed program to reform business processes in the London insurance market. More than 350 organizations that form the market - insurance and reinsurance companies, Lloyd's syndicates and brokers - will now be asked to sign up to a document indicating support for the principles of the program. The report, London Market Principles 2001 (LMP2001), is based on a consultation document published in May, amended to accommodate the extensive feedback received. Ownership of the reforms extends widely across the market, with the common aim to improve customer service, speed up the way the market operates, and create long-term cost savings.

Paul Pelling has been appointed a director of the Marine Division of Lloyd's insurance broker HSBC Insurance Brokers Limited. Paul has twenty years' experience of marine insurance broking, most recently as an Executive Director of the Marine Division of Aon Group. Prior to that he spent six years as an executive director and head of P&I at Willis Faber, and ten years with the Sedgwick Group, rising to the position of Director of Marine & Cargo. Pelling joins a diverse and expanding Marine Division at HSBC, which covers all areas of the industry, including hull and machinery, cargo, war risks, loss of hire and liability. Peter Ahlas, Chief Executive of the Marine, Cargo & Aviation Divisions at HSBC Insurance Brokers, says, "We are delighted that Paul has joined us.

Transocean Inc.'s Deepwater Nautilus rig should have spent the last two months drilling for oil and natural gas in 8,000 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico, earning $220,000 a day. Instead, the vessel sat idle in a Texas shipyard. Workers last week finished the latest round of repairs on the Nautilus after Hurricane Katrina tore the 50,277-ton rig from its moorings and Hurricane Rita grounded it. They also added mooring points to lessen the chance of a repeat. The 2005 storms have cost Houston-based Transocean, the largest offshore driller, about $135 million for repairs, downtime and equipment upgrades. At least Transocean is done counting. A year after Katrina, the biggest natural disaster ever in the energy business, companies are still tallying the damage done by the hurricanes.

Waller Marine, Inc. of Houston has been selected as part of the Project Team for the initial Feasibility Study of the $5b Geismer, La., Clean Coal to Liquid Fuels Project, recently announced by the Governor of Louisiana, Kathleen Blanco and the Leaders of Shanyang Borough of Shanghai City, China. Acclaimed as the World’s first Coal to Gasoline Project Waller Marine, Inc, will provide the marine engineering and management support to the modular design concept developed by the Company for the facility’s construction, transportation and installation at the designated operating site in Geismer, Louisiana. The initial work shall be carried out under a Feasibility Study Service Agreement between Sino Global International…