Today – 2 November 2020 - the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) has released its 2020 analysis of the global marine insurance market – known as IUMI Stats. The report presents a range of statistical data from a variety of sources, including IUMI’s own data, to provide an insight into the marine insurance market within the context of global trade and shipping, IUMI said in its release.
Highlights from this year’s statistical analysis includes:
Global marine premiums across all sectors are relatively stable. Early signs of a modest market recovery are encouraging although COVID-19 has injected a new level of uncertainty.
The gap between global hull premiums and global tonnage continues to widen, although at a slower rate. Hull loss ratios have improved slightly and a benign loss environment prevails (with the continued exception of large vessel fires). This, coupled with a reduction in underwriting capacity, seems likely to predict a market recovery, but from an exceptionally low base.
Loss ratios for cargo underwriting have improved slightly. But global trade dipped sharply as a result of COVID-19 and accumulation of risk onboard and ashore continues to grow. A market recovery across all regions is reported, however.
The fortunes of the offshore energy market tend to mirror the oil price which has been unstable, particularly during the pandemic. However, a low impact hurricane season (to date) is positive but a fragile balance between a low premium base and a low claims environment exists.