The largest international marine insurance event was held at the wonderful Scottish capital city of Edinburgh this year. More than 700 marine insurance professionals gathered from across the world to be part of this event. The three-day event (17-20 September) covered topics on global statistics, Cargo, Hull and Offshore Energy trends, Loss prevention and legal and liability issues, facing global marine insurance industry.

India’s growing importance as a major trade and strategic partner, infrastructure push for maritime trade coupled with the growth of Indian economy was widely noticed in the conference. There was a presentation from S&P forecasting India’s growing importance in the years to come. It was heartening to see large number of participations from Indian market including the presence of Secretary General of GI Council who attended the conference. Mr Sanjiv Singh, former Chair of Education Forum and member of Facts & Figures Committee was specifically mentioned by Mr Frederic Denèfle, President IUMI, in his opening remarks on day 1, for his contribution to IUMI work and especially the achievements in IUMI’s Education program drawing applause from the audience.

The marine market globally reported positivity but remains uncertain for future sustainability especially with changing geopolitical situations, war and climate change.

All marine lines of businesses had an uplift (8.3%) in premium base for 2022 with total marine premium reaching USD 35.8 billion (Transport/Cargo 57.3%, Hull 23.4%, Offshore energy 11.5% and Marine liability 7.7%). Cargo and Hull business had encouraging loss ratios with a benign claims impact.

There has been growth in all regions for cargo business other than Asia/Pacific market which is likely due to economic conditions and major Asian currencies weaking against the US Dollar. Cargo underwriters continue to be concerned with several persistent challenges such as mis declared cargo, vessel fires, accumulation challenges, climate change and political tensions.

2022 saw a continued growth in the world fleet as well as its overall value and this coupled with reduced market capacity, has impacted positively on the marine hull premium base. Claim frequency had a long-term downward trend, major losses were moderate in recent years with the exception of fire claims. Average repair costs have seen an upward trend due to impact of inflation.

ESG, digitalization, sanctions, loss prevention, transportation of EV’s and its risk management coupled with transportation hazards of lithium batteries were presented and discussed in detail during the conference.

The conference ended with a grand musical program and gala dinner on 20th September at Scottish Museum