Seacurus Launches South-East Asian Petro-Piracy Coverage
Specialist marine insurance intermediary Seacurus has launched a petro-piracy endorsement for ships operating in the South China Sea, Malacca Straits, Indonesian Archipelago and Gulf of Guinea.
South-East Asia accounted for three-quarters of global maritime piracy last year, according to figures published by the International Maritime Bureau. A surge in tanker hijackings helped fuel a 22 per cent jump in armed robbery and pirate attacks on ships in the region. There were 183 actual and attempted incidents of piracy and robbery in South-East Asian waters last year, compared to 150 in 2013.
Denis Nifontov, Head of Marine K&R at Seacurus, believes these numbers will hold steady in 2015.
"The criminal reach demonstrated by last year’s hijack of the tanker Kerala, coupled with the number of successful and attempted attacks in 2014 and the lack of any evidence that such gangs have been neutralized, suggests that further attempts at cargo theft will take place in 2015 across the region."
The new coverage from Seacurus seeks to protect crews against potential kidnapping situations, and ship and cargo owners against the risk of business interruption and property theft. The new endorsement can be added to the company's existing Kidnap & Ransom (KR) insurance coverage.
In addition to the benefits of a $1M marine K&R policy, the cover includes loss of hire ($500,000), loss or theft of cargo ($500,000), loss of bunkers ($250,000), and loss or theft of money ($50,000) within an aggregate policy limit of $5M.
