Posted on: 24 October 2023
The second edition of the Shipping Risk Forum, held on Monday, 11th September 9am-3.30pm at The Old Library, Lloyd’s, brought together the London marine insurance and global shipping communities to examine how insurers are providing solutions to the key issues facing the maritime sector (see the agenda here).
The Forum was organised by Maritime London in partnership with the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG), International Underwriting Association (IUA), London & International Insurance Brokers Association (LIIBA) and Lloyd’s Market Association (LMA), with Lloyd’s Register being the Principal Sponsor and Lloyd’s List the Media Partner.
Maritime London’s Honorary President Lord Mountevans welcomed the 150-strong audience and introduced Nick Shaw, CEO of the IG, who chaired the event. Nick Shaw said: “I was delighted to be invited to Chair the London Risk Forum in the Old Library at Lloyd’s as part of LISW23. The well-attended Forum heard from a range of marine industry experts on some of the difficult issues and emerging risks facing the marine insurance industry. London is the historic centre for marine insurance and continues to provide innovative marine insurance products and cover to help support and facilitate global maritime trade.”
Keynote addresses were by Dawn Miller, Commercial Director at Lloyd’s, and former International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) Chairman Esben Poulsson, who is currently Executive Chairman, ENESEL PTE LTD.
The first session entitled ‘Marine insurance in a divided world’ explored the current geopolitical outlook and how shipping markets reacted to the uncertainty. The panel also discussed what effect this could have on the London insurance market. The panel consisted of Dr Dominick Donald, Senior Advisor at Herminus; Elle Midwinter, Partner of Wikborg Rein LLP; Neil Roberts, Head of Marine & Aviation at LMA; and Mike Salthouse, Head of External Affairs at NorthStandard, and was moderated by Lloyd’s List Editor-in-Chief Richard Meade.
Simon Lockwood, Head of Shipowners, Marine GB at WTW and Director of Maritime London moderated the panel ‘War risk insurance – in the spotlight’, featuring Andreas Bisbas, Director at Tsakos Shipping (London), who is also Chair of ICS Insurance Committee and Director of Maritime London; Kelly Gallagher, Head of Marine, Property & War at Convex; Anders Hovelsrud, Insurance Director at DNK; and Anne Liversedge, General Counsel at Teekay Tankers and also Chair of INTERTANKO Documentary Committee.
Simon Lockwood said: “The war risk session introduced a number of themes around the challenges faced by both owners and insurers, in the complex field of war risk insurance. Our panellists brought their personal experiences of the market since the invasion of Ukraine, that ranged from the practicalities and expense of insurers managing the repatriation of crew, caught in a war zone, the issues of trading and meeting commercial obligations though a rapidly changing sanctions environment and the sanctity of an insurance policy.”
Melis Otmar, Claims Director of BMS Group opened the Forum’s final session, ‘Insuring a safe transition to net-zero’ pointing out that “whilst we had seen noteworthy progress in shipping safety in the last decade and 2022 had the lowest numbers of casualties reported, we are now at a climactic point where novel and more complex challenges are looming, with all service providers in shipping finding themselves in this brave new world of digitalisation, automation and environmental regulations leading to Net Zero.”
Andy Cross, COO of HiLo RMS presented to the audience how the currently available data on casualties could be applied to new and alternative fuels.
Ruth Boumphrey, Chief Executive of LR Foundation shared the findings of the research done by Lloyd’s Register Maritime Decarbonisation Hub and how the transition risk can be reduced in a sustainable, safe and commercially feasible way. She said: “New technologies are giving us novel means predict and prevent accidents at sea. However, to make a meaningful and long-lasting impact on loss prevention at sea, a whole systems approach and holistic changes to maritime safety culture must be adopted globally. We have a responsibility to invest in innovation in emerging maritime economies in a way that is inclusive, just, and has safety at its core.”
Stuart Edmonston, Loss Prevention Director of UK P&I Club discussed how alternative fuel technologies, such as hydrogen, ammonia, batteries, and biofuels, are expected to lead to the introduction of new training for all marine crew, in addition to familiarisation on board, specific to the ship or offshore unit they are joining with safety-first approach.
Martin Taylor, CEO of One Ocean deliberated about how better transparency across all stakeholders could be achieved and underlined the importance of planning and the linkage between thorough data driven planning, visibility of plans across stakeholders and risk reduction associated with this.
The panel concluded that given the axiomatic scale of the challenge involved, decarbonisation could be named as the biggest challenge for our industry with the outmost importance of understanding and managing risk involved, whereby first-movers are expected drive change and lead the way.
Event’s photos https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAT7zA
