Growing Africa trade lifts cargo insurance demand

Africa’s shipping market has remained buoyant despite tough global economic conditions, Jefferson Sauls, account executive at Aon South Africa, said recently. “This bodes well for the continent’s future with imports into Africa from Europe, USA and China having grown substantially since 2011.” Commodities are estimated to generate about a third of Africa’s growth, says Sauls. “At the same time, there has been increasing implementation of regulations that demand that insurance cover be purchased locally, which bodes well for our marine insurance sector,” he said. In this regard South Africa’s marine insurance companies have been expanding extensively. At the same time, with the emergence of a number of new players entering the marine insurance sector, the increased competition has created soft markets which will continue for the foreseeable future, he added. “The introduction of new underwriting management agencies (UMAs) has seen a turn in the marine market. It’s now a matter of offering the best terms in the market to get the business since the rates are very low in order to remain competitive. It’s definitely a buyer’s market,” he said. “In an effort to maintain their premium income, underwriters have also broadened their scope of products on offer. Stock throughputs have continued to prove popular with the boundaries being pushed even to include additional risks such as retail exposures,” said Sauls.