Lines pass on hefty war risk surcharges

Alan Peat
SHIPPERS ARE being faced with hefty war risk surcharges - as much as 25% of the going freight rate - for all cargoes to and from what the insurance industry has defined as "high risk" areas and "exclusion zones".
These are in the eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, Gulf, Red Sea and SE Asia.
The international insurance industry has slapped up all its war risk cover, and will grant no automatic war risk cover to the exclusion zones - with special, high rates for both shipÕs hull and marine cargo cover in these areas.
This followed a September 24 release from London which read: "In light of the recent traumatic events that took place in the USA, the war risk underwriters of London have given notice to all underwriters internationally to increase the war and strike rates with immediate effect."
Some 16 conferences serving the affected areas have announced surcharges affecting between 30 and 40 named ports.
And the shipping lines, suddenly faced with these new, and considerably higher, insurance costs, have had no choice but to pass them on to their client base.
For shippers, this has seen war risk surcharges being imposed on all cargo to and from the affected areas.
But, FTW was warned, the charges already made public are on "an interim basis". There still remains the possibility of further war risk depending on the outcome of US retaliatory action.
For most of the main lines serving the exclusion areas, FTW been able to obtain the following surcharges but with no assurance that these might not change overnight. Also, the lists are not necessarily complete, as surcharges for certain areas were still being calculated at corporate level at the time of writing (October 8).
In all cases the charge for 40-foot containers is double that of the 20-foot.
P&O NedlloydÕs Alan Naidoo told FTW that their surcharge has been fixed at US$100 per TEU (twenty f