By Mike Wackett (The Loadstar)– It appears the ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) that have actually come to be the ‘new normal’ on the Asia-Europe tradelane have actually not shown as prominent as the lines that run them really hoped.

Several carriers The Loadstar spoke with at Transport Logistic in Munich recently might not conceal their hostility to the sea leviathans– and also it shows up the insurance policy market likewise has issues.

In its 2019 Safety and also Shipping evaluation, Allianz claims ULCVs “are of particular concern” for the insurance policy market, considered that larger vessels imply larger dangers, with a possibility for a loss as large as $4bn.

“Insurers have been warning for years that the increasing size of vessels is leading to a higher accumulation of risk,” it claimed. “These fears are now being realised, potentially offsetting improvements in safety and risk management.”

“Larger vessels mean far greater accumulations of risks, and therefore larger values and exposures, both on board vessels and in ports,” claimed the insurance company.

Noting that containerships have actually nearly increased in ability in the previous years, “which brings issues as well as benefits”, the evaluation claims fires and also surges aboard remain to produce huge losses, with 174 reported occurrences in 2015– and also a brand-new case happening every 60 days, generally.

“Such incidents can easily result in large claims in the hundreds of millions of dollars, if not more,” claims the evaluation. “A worse-case loss scenario involving the collision and grounding of two large container vessels could result in a $4bn loss, when the costs of salvage, wreck removal and environmental claims are included.”

It includes that misdeclared freight, consisting of inaccurate labelling and also product packaging of items, “is believed to be the root cause of a number of fires and is a problem exacerbated by larger vessels, which can make issues more difficult to detect, locate and combat”.

And it keeps in mind that onboard firefighting capacity “continues to challenge larger vessels”, with the demand for “considerable outside assistance to control a blaze” which “significant damage to the vessel is likely to occur” as a result of the moment called for to obtain fire-fighting vessels to the scene.

But it is not only losses arising from damages to the vessels that insurance providers are worried regarding: the loss of some 300 containers in the North Sea in hefty climate from the 19,224 teu MSC Zoe in January caused significant cases, and also the record advises visitors that “inadequate stowing and lashing” of containers “poses a serious risk in bad weather”.

The largest container vessel casualty to day was the 15,262 teu Maersk Honam, which ignited on 6 March in 2015 in the Arabian Sea, declaring the lives of 5 team participants.

Indeed, also for the small-by-comparison, 8,110 teu MOL Comfort, which damaged its back and also sank off the shore of Yemen in 2008, leading to a failure of the ship and also its 4,380 Europe- bound containers, the insured freight loss alone was reported at some $300m.

Marine insurance providers usually compute their typical direct exposure at $50,000-$ 100,000 per box, however as a result of the greater worth of the MOL Comfort’s electronic devices and also durable goods freight, the loss was significantly greater.

Moreover, there have actually been circumstances taped by aquatic insurance providers where the worth of a solitary stuffed container has actually surpassed $1m.

“It is very clear that in some shipping segments, loss prevention measures have not kept pace with the upscaling of vessels,” claimed Chris Turberville, head of aquatic hull & & responsibilities in the UK for Allianz.

“This is something that needs to be addressed from the design stage onwards.”

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