Insurance of ships in the Black Sea has tripled in price

The cost of insurance for ships operating in the Black Sea has tripled over the past month amid Ukraine's active attacks on Russian port infrastructure and shadow fleet tankers.

This was reported by Ukrayinska Pravda with reference to the Financial Times.

According to insurance brokers, prices for war risk insurance jumped from 0.25-0.3% of the ship's value in early November to 0.5-0.75% in early December. In fact, we are talking about a 250% rise in price.

Marcus Baker, head of maritime transportation at Marsh brokerage, noted that the biggest price increases were recorded in the Black Sea areas adjacent to Russia, as well as near Ukraine, Georgia and Turkey.

"Russia will escalate the situation in Ukraine, so we are likely to see further rate increases in this region," Baker said.

The publication notes that the rise in prices was triggered by strikes by Ukrainian special forces on infrastructure, including the port of Novorossiysk, as well as the hunt for oil tankers, which Moscow uses to circumvent Western sanctions.

According to market participants, tariffs for tankers and bulk carriers linked to Russia have risen most sharply.

Meanwhile, in November, Andriy Klimenko, head of the Black Sea Strategic Studies Institute and editor-in-chief of BlackSeaNews, said that Russia had most likely deliberately hit a Turkish gas tanker in the port of Izmail in Odesa region. On November 17, residents of two villages in Romania, Chatalkoi and Plauru in Tulcea, were evacuated due to a fire on this tanker. The vessel was carrying 4,000 tons of liquefied petroleum gas and caught fire near the Ukrainian port of Izmail, Odesa region.

Кирило Бойко