16.4.10

Piracy has been a moneymaker for the insurers

























Shipowners are forking over some $400 million a year to cover themselves against a roughly 1% chance that their vessel will be attacked (200 attacks out of 20,000 annual voyages through the region). That comes to an average $20,000 in extra insurance costs per voyage. For big tankers, the cost is closer to $100,000 per voyage: $75,000 for war risk insurance and $20,000 for a $5 million kidnapping and ransom policy. Though some insurance syndicates have suffered losses paying out ransom claims, overall, piracy has been a moneymaker for the insurers.
The total cost of piracy worldwide is somewhere north of $1 billion a year. That sounds like a lot, but it's no threat to the $7 trillion a year international maritime trade.

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