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MARINE | Innovation In association with Shipowners
Britt Pickering (left) and Alex McCooke (below) explain how Shipowners’ Club has developed new cover for the fast-growing Marine Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) market and Offshore Wind as the historic P&I sector rises to the challenges and opportunities presented by the ongoing technological revolution The Shipowners’ Club has come a long way since launch in 1855. The Club started life modestly with 221 vessels at 58,228 GT; this figure has grown substantiallyin the last 167 years to 33,986 vessels and 27.9 million GT. So much has changed over this period, but, the Club has retained its core principles of mutuality: that of sharing risk, insurance at cost and control by its members. Another thing that has not changed is the Club’s willingness to embrace change and support members as technology transforms their industries or opens up new industries. No Club can survive without being able to react to the changing demands and needs of members. For this reason, in the last decade the Club has developed a range of bespoke policies to tailor or add to its cover for specific members’ needs. Fishing boats, yachts and dive boats can all benefit from cover adapted specifically for their unique requirements, whilst vessels engaged in offshore work have a choice of multiple packages of cover, catering for the full range of contractual and operational situations required.
AUTONOMOUS CRAFT
One of the most recent additions Shipowners’ suite of specialist covers is its marine autonomous vessel liability Insurance Policy. Marine autonomous surface ships (MASS) form a small but rapidly growing vessel sector in the marine insurance market, currently calculated to be worth more than US$1.5bn. This is quite remarkable considering the relative infancy of the systems technology and the operational constraints under which many of these vessels operate. The relative value of this sector is also surprising when you consider that it is developing in a small and specialised niche and is therefore moving, at least for now, against the traditional marine market trend of ever-increasing vessel size. The sector presents novel challenges for insurers when assessing risk. For MASS there is an almost complete lack of The Marine Insurer | March 2022
The future is still so much bigger than the past historical claims data to inform underwriters in relation to the risk both in terms of frequency and quantum. Further, when underwriting a traditional risk considerable comfort is gained from a vessel’s classification with a class society. Although it is very encouraging to see class societies embracing MASS with specific guidance, it does not always remain appropriate to class these small, specialised and regionally trading vessels. Fortunately, the Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships – UK Code of Practice (first introduced in 2017 and now in its 4th iteration has provided guidance focused on design, construction, and operation of MASS as well as skills, training and vessel registration. In addition, even though its primary focus is on smaller
