Insurer hopeful of continued growth

Marine insurers are gradually seeing an increase in project cargo once again. According to Associated Marine’s chief operating officer Mike Brews, there has been a definite drop in volumes in recent years – especially during and after the world wide economic downturn, but it is a situation that seems to be improving. “We have started to see tenders coming in and while not many have come to fruition, it is a very hopeful situation.” He said due to a lack of project cargo it has been very difficult to make any forecasts or to determine trends. “But it is a sector on which we have been keeping a very close watch and one that we believe is going to pick up quite well.” Brews said with many projects happening across Africa opportunities were endless. “Infrastructure remains our biggest concern – be it the routes travelled or the ports used. We do mitigate as much of that risk as possible through third party surveyors but it remains a challenge in the African context.” According to Brews, when it comes to projects, insurers often require supervision, especially during loading due to the specialised nature of the cargo. “Because it is so specialised, if any damages occur the cargo either has to be returned to its point of origin or engineers have to be brought out from the manufacturing country to do the repairs. Both these are costly options and therefore we are very strict in our requirements.” He said often companies also insured for any possible loss of profit due to a slow start-up of a factory or a mine for instance. “If something goes wrong with project cargo it inevitably ends up taking time to fix and that risk must be mitigated at all times.”