Marine war-risk insurance for a Strait of Hormuz transit is now running at 3 to 10 per cent of a ship's hull value, per The National. On a 100 million dollar tanker that is a premium of 3 to 10 million dollars for a single passage, against roughly 0.25 per cent, about 250,000 dollars, before the war. Marsh's global head of marine, Marcus Baker, described rates as being on a roller coaster tracking the oil price.
Cover in the region is written on short fuses. Policies are typically seven-day, and rates are reviewed every 24 to 48 hours, so each escalation feeds straight into daily cost. After the latest tanker attacks, some war underwriters have advised owners to pause Hormuz voyages outright or are re-reviewing terms, per Insurance Journal.
The repricing followed direct hits on shipping. Two UAE supertankers operated by Adnoc Logistics and Services, the Mombasa and the Al Bahyah, were struck by Iranian cruise missiles, killing one seafarer and injuring eight. Strikes like these are what move a rate from fractions of a per cent into eight figures.
The crews are stuck with the ships. The IMO Secretary-General, Arsenio Dominguez, has flagged the continued high cost of cover, and the organisation puts about 6,000 seafarers trapped in the region as owners decline to sail and crews sit aboard laden tankers at anchor.
For maritime security and duty-of-care teams the insurance market is now a live intelligence feed. When underwriters pull cover or advise a pause, that is a hard commercial read on the threat, often ahead of the headlines. Factor cover status and its 24-to-48-hour review cycle into any movement decision, and work on the basis that a transit that cannot be insured is a transit that should not sail.
