Insurance Marketplace Realities 2024 – Marine hull and liability

Rate predictions: Marine hull and liability

	Trend	Range
Domestic hull and machinery		+2.5% to +5%
London/international hull and machinery		+2.5% to +5%
P&I domestic		+5% to +7.5%
P&I crew/towing domestic		+7.5% to +10%
P&I international		+5% to +7.5%
Domestic primary marine liability		+5% to +7.5%
Domestic excess marine liability		+7.5% to +10%, greater for underlying crew/towing exposure – first layer
London marine liability		+10% to +15% or more
Domestic L&H mutual		Flat to +2.5%

Underwriting in the current environment remains demanding.

• Marine underwriters requiring premium increases for claim inflation (personal injury and increases in raw material cost) and cost of reinsurance increasing.
• Excess liability underwriters are taking a careful review of non-marine underlying coverages (specifically auto liability) scheduled under marine bumbershoot policies and requiring higher minimum attachments points (no longer accepting $1 million underlying auto limit for fleets of significant size).
• Excess liability underwriters reducing capacity and requiring ventilation between layers requiring quota share placements and additional market capacity.
• Due to political unrest globally and specifically for the situation in Ukraine/Russia, we expect significant adverse developments in the hull war market in carrier capacity, appetite, and terms/conditions.
• Underwriters seeking additional retentions on U.S. Gulf area must consider hull risks due to consistent NATCAT losses.

International group P&I clubs

• P&I club market is starting to stabilize after several consecutive years of large pool claims, high average market combined ratio and lower investment returns.

Burdens are increasing on both sides of the negotiating table.

• Underwriters are requiring substantially more data for renewals and new business, including loss control engagements.
• Underwriters remain under scrutiny to deliver profits despite fewer investment returns and an increase in claim costs in the current environment, which is negatively impacted from the buyer’s perspective.

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