Global disruption?

WE GAVE this issue the theme of global disruption, with a question mark, quite deliberately as we wanted to see what was really worrying our contributors. And as you will see from the following pages, there is plenty of disruption to the marine insurance market.

But also, as we had anticipated, not everything is bad. The advancements in technology, for example, should pave the way for a cleaner and more efficient marine industry. One in which seafarers lives are less at risk and one in which vessels can ply their trade with less harm to the environment.

Technology will also enable the marine insurance sector to work smarter and more efficiently from pricing of risks to claims handling and monitoring – all positive stuff.

Sadly, however, there are plenty of less positive disruptions. The war in Ukraine continues to take its toll on the marine sector, although not necessarily in the most obvious of ways. This war has produced the new phenomena of dark ships – not new in themselves but new in that vessels are sailing after switching off the automatic identification systems that protect both them and others from collisions or groundings.

Many in the industry fear the consequences should one of these dark vessels collide with a law-abiding vessel or have an accident that results in massive pollution. Where will the liability fall and how can the marine market react to such an event? These questions were hypothetical until early May but now many are holding their breath and hoping for resolution in Ukraine before such an event becomes a major catasrophe.

Some global disruptions are hardly new – the world is too well used to geopolitical upheaval. It is just a matter of changing geographies rather than new threats. But there does seem to be a new world order emerging and only time will tell whether the axis of Russia, China and India does develop further to make a difference.

Another old problem that has reared its ugly head again in recent times is that of stowaways. As economic turmoil hits many emerging markets worldwide, it seems the stream of illegal immigrants is flowing that much faster – and with climate change threatening many poorer parts of the world too, that flow of stowaways is predicted to get that much worse.

So it seems we are faced with both good and bad when it comes to global disruption – something to keep everyone on their toes in the coming months.

Liz Booth Editor, The Marine Insurer