Insurance Products News

Facing rising costs, an Icelandic tour operator is using technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance safety and slash insurance premiums for its fleet of high-speed rigid inflatable boats (RIB).Reykjavík-based Whale Safari runs tourist RIBs for whale and bird watching excursions in Iceland. From an insurer’s standpoint, the endeavor—which sees vessels that seat up to 12 passengers achieving high speeds and g-force wave impacts—is inherently risky. To make matters worse for companies like Whale Safari…

West creates a Charterers and Traders team as a new center of excellence within the Club, further enhancing the West’s popular tailor-made liability insurance products.The West of England P&I Club announced the creation of a dedicated Charterers and Traders product team to manage its Charterers Comprehensive Cover, which provides bespoke cover for charterers and traders.Suumit Madhu will lead the new team with support from Nicola Goff, Christina Anderson, Chris Ward and Paul Kaye…

Berkshire Hathaway Specialty Insurance (BHSI) has launched a full line of marine insurance products in France and appointed Muriel Birre Julvécourt as Head of Marine. The company said that the new marine offerings included Inland Marine, Ocean Cargo, Stock & Transit, Project Cargo, Freight Forwarders Liability, Ports & Terminals, and Subsea Insurance.Muriel Birre Julvécourtcomes to BHSI with more than 25 years of marine underwriting experience. She was most recently Head of Marine at RSA Group. Before that, she held various management roles in Marine at Groupama Transport.

The UK Hydrographic Office (UKHO) announced geospatial intelligence technology provider Geollect as the winner of the second ADMIRALTY Marine Innovation Program challenge.Launched last year in collaboration with RE_SET, the program aims to help start-ups and innovators develop new solutions that support safe, secure and thriving oceans. The program’s second innovation challenge focused on ‘Transforming Maritime Risk & Insurance’, with entrants tasked with identifying, trialing and proving how marine geospatial data can be used to enhance maritime insurance products.For this challenge…

Technology helps maritime companies do more with less. But today, technological advances are outstripping legal developments. As a result, many marine-based businesses operate in a legal limbo with many lawyers and insurance professionals confused about what laws will apply to what claims. While sometimes philosophical, the problem of what law will apply becomes stark and very real when a worker is injured. We live in a golden age of maritime technological development as we learn to use our oceans, lakes, rivers and coastlines in new and unique ways.

Though water covers more than 70 percent of the Earth’s surface, businesses engaged in marine shipping operations and logistics, and other businesses that manufacture and ship product still have a lot of ground to cover getting their various goods to their final destinations. The ocean marine insurance market, the oldest insurance market in the world, was initially developed to protect these goods while crossing the ocean’s open waters, later to morph into a product to protect all international transportation regardless of mode.

The American P&I Club was founded in New York nearly a century ago. To celebrate its first 100 years, a book entitled The American Club: A Centennial History has just been published. The book tells the story of the Club across ten decades of maritime and marine insurance history both within the United States and across the world. Its author is Richard Blodgett, a former Wall Street Journal reporter whose previous credits include histories of the New York Stock Exchange, Kohler and Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The American Club was founded in February, 1917.

XL Group plc through its subsidiaries and under the XL Catlin brand, is a global insurance and reinsurance company providing property, casualty and specialty products to industrial, commercial and professional firms, insurance companies and other enterprises throughout the world. The firm employs 7,000 and has sales of $9,300,000,000 annually. XL Catlin’s insurance segment provides commercial property, casualty, professional liability, environmental liability, aviation and satellite, marine, product recall, political risks, surplus lines and other coverages.

The Swedish Club reported a solid operating result to its board today, continuing a record of building on steady growth. 2014 was seen as a stable year, where the underwriting result outperformed the financial performance and the insurance products across the board returned a staunch to high surplus. Renewals were in line with that market environment showing a modest increase in both tonnage and new members. Importantly, the Club was able to demonstrate almost 100% member retention - affirming the high levels of customer satisfaction it has reported throughout the year.

The Swedish Club reported a solid operating result to its board today, continuing a record of building on steady growth. 2014 was seen as a stable year, where the underwriting result outperformed the fi­nancial performance and the insurance products across the board returned a staunch to high surplus. Renewals were in line with that market environ­ment showing a modest increase in both tonnage and new members. Importantly, the Club was able to demonstrate almost 100% member retention - affirming the high levels of customer satisfaction it has reported throughout the year. This operating result was strong given the claims experience and on-going market conditions, with the Club recording an overall surplus of USD 18.4 million while free reserves reached USD 186 million.

DGS Marine, a global P&I management provider and exclusive manager for the British European and Overseas (BE&O) P&I Facility, has advised Indian shipowners to consider the benefits of fixed premium P&I cover. DGS Marine spoke at a P&I Insurance Seminar held in Mumbai, India last week and jointly hosted by DGS Marine Group and the British European and Overseas (BE&O) P&I Facility. Attended by delegates from across India’s shipping community, the seminar examined a range of shipping-related legal and insurance issues…

Once, the stars were all that mariners needed to navigate the seas. Today, maritime companies rely on hi-tech systems to operate and navigate equally hi-tech vessels. All of that comes with new and significant risks. On one side, automation has its benefits, especially as crews grew smaller and ships got bigger. On the flip side, however, marine technology, like most other technology, comes with its own risks. Today’s technologies often require Internet connectivity to function properly. A recent study by Boston-based security company Rapid7 found more than 100,000 devices – from traffic signal equipment to oil and gas monitors – were connected to the Internet using serial ports with inadequate security leaving them vulnerable to breaches or hacking.

Energy companies have no insurance against major cyber attacks, reinsurance broker Willis said on Tuesday, likening the threat to a "time bomb" that could cost the industry billions of dollars. Willis highlighted the industry's vulnerability to cyber threats in its annual review of the energy sector's insurance market, which called on insurers to find a way to provide cover. "A major energy catastrophe - on the same scale as ... Exxon Valdez or Deepwater Horizon - could be caused by a cyber attack, and, crucially, that cover for such a loss is generally not currently provided by the energy insurance market," the insurance broker said.

Regional insurance brokerage and risk management company AAIB first to be granted license to operate in Somalia as economic opportunities drive demand. Regional specialist in broking, risk management and consultancy Anglo Arab Insurance Brokers (AAIB), has broadened its footprint, within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region being the first international insurance broker to have been granted a licence to operate in Somalia. Formed in 2005 to focus exclusively on emerging markets…

Fidelis Group Holdings, through its subsidiary company Continental Underwriters, Ltd., a national marine Insurance coverage and service leader, announced today the formation of its new Inland Marine Division. Ed Helfers and Lisa Uzzo named Managing Directors. The new Inland Marine division will be based in the Company's New York office. H. Elder Brown, Jr., FGH's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said in a company statement, "We are excited to bring very senior, experienced talent into this new division of the Company.

The old expression about getting one’s sea legs speaks to how different life can be in the ocean marine environment. Those who spend most of their time on land often need to adjust to the rhythms that are second nature to old sea hands. Similarly, any company that operates both on land and water needs to adjust its risk management strategies to account for exposures in both arenas. That can range from something as simple as making sure land-based workers have the right protective equipment when they move to the waterfront, to something as complex as coordinating insurance coverage to minimize the possibility of gaps or unexpected liabilities.

The Travelers Companies, Inc. announced that Bill Queen has been named President of Travelers Ocean Marine. In this role, Queen is responsible for the overall leadership and management of the Travelers Ocean Marine business. "Bill's extensive management experience has prepared him well for this role," said Jim Chapman, President of the Travelers First Party Group. Since joining the First Party Group four years ago, Queen has become increasingly involved with the Ocean Marine organization.

J. H. Blades's new marine underwriting division will underwrite brown water exposures for specialty retail agents and brokers. Specific coverages will include hull and liability, protection and indemnity, builder’s risk, miscellaneous marine liability, vessel pollution, excess marine liability, bumbershoots and other related marine coverages. At the helm of the new venture is David Manion, who joins Blades Marine as Executive Vice President. Manion has spent more than 20 years in marine underwriting. He has extensive experience in the brown water exposure space as well as providing London specialty marine lines wholesale broker services. He holds a B.S. in Occupational Safety and Health from Murray State University in Kentucky.

Protecting Contractors As They Enter New Waters. As the economic recovery continues to sputter along, construction companies eager to land any available projects have found themselves bidding outside their normal scope of work. Maritime construction is one such industry that has seen an increase in contractors who may not typically work on marine-related projects, thereby increasing the likelihood that individual projects may fall outside their skill set. While contracts in marine construction present opportunities for income…

Moore Stephens Brokers Limited, a source of general insurance products tailored for Superyachts, has appointed Kathy Kennedy as its new executive vice president it was announced today. She will be based in the USA. A US based yachting industry veteran, Kathy most recently worked with the Ferretti Group on North American market development and with Derecktor Shipyards as director of marketing during the M/Y CAKEWALK build. - jewellery.

Michael Else & Company, manager of the Charterers P&I Club and Transmarine, has launched a new product to provide innovative insurance solutions worldwide for small and medium-sized multimodal transport operators and shipping intermediaries such as freight forwarders, NVOCCs and ship agents. The new product, Portside Insurance Management Services operates as a brand within Michael Else & Company’s existing structure and the security is provided 100 per cent by Torus Insurance (UK) Ltd, rated A M Best A- (Excellent). Christopher Else, Managing Director of Michael Else & Company, says, “We are excited to be launching a new product that fits so well with our existing brands and which will immediately benefit from our established network of clients, brokers and suppliers.

The Shipowners’ Club recently announced measures to reorganise its London branch. This included the setting up of two internal syndicates, bringing together both underwriters and claims handlers specialising in specific geographical regions; a third syndicate will focus on the offshore sector. Providing liability insurance to the vast array of offshore and platform support vessels, from anchor handlers, tugs and workboats to the fast crew boats employed in the energy industry, already forms a prominent part of the Club’s portfolio. Shipowners plans to develop its reach to owners and brokers of this vessel type even further. Charles Hume…

HARTFORD, Conn., August 11, 2011 – The Travelers Companies, Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Raymond T. Martino as the President of its Ocean Marine business unit. Martino is responsible for the overall leadership and management of Travelers Ocean Marine, which provides highly specialized property and liability insurance products for maritime-oriented risks including commercial hulls, cargo, luxury yachts, port authorities, shipbuilders and numerous other specialized exposures.