Lloyd’s to Unveil New Marine Policy Contract Wordings

Lloyd’s announced that “experts from across the Lloyd’s and London markets are set to unveil a suite of new contract wordings for the marine market in the coming weeks and months.”

Spurred by the ongoing growth in marine transport, a number of London’s underwriters and brokers have been working for the past two years on revising the contract clauses and wordings, some of which date back more than 40 years. They began their task as the London Market Joint Hull Committee in 2003, and are now close to releasing the finalized clauses.

Neil Smith, Marine, Aviation and Transport Manager at the Lloyd’s Market Association, explained: “The Joint Hull Committee has been taking a detailed look at the hull construction sector for some time. Their working party has undertaken the most significant revision of the hull construction wordings since the 1960s, and the result is a new wording which caters for the new risks and changes in the construction market.”

The market’s Joint Cargo Committee has also been working on the standard cargo clauses that are used as the basis for insurance contracts across the world.

Smith stressed that “one of the major areas which has been looked at is that of terrorism,” which he indicated has “now become a bigger threat to cargo owners and as such we have been looking at the clauses to ensure it has been properly addressed.”

He added that the Lloyd’s market is also looking to utilize the electronic data which is now in the market to produce more detailed statistics that will enable underwriters to price risks more effectively. The Committee has been working with Xchanging, the market’s back office processing operation, “to devise a system which will enable greater use of the statistical information that is gathered across the Lloyd’s market,” Smith noted.

Source: Lloyds – www.loyds.com

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