Marine insurers have absorbed multi‑billion‑dollar losses while providing war‑risk cover to keep energy shipments moving through the Strait of Hormuz, a senior International Union of Marine Insurance official told reports on 24 September 2026.
The report said insurers met these losses to sustain global energy flows during the ongoing US‑Iran conflict, even though headline premium rates have risen. The IUMI official characterised the outcome as a substantial hit to underwriting results despite visible rate inflation.
The source noted that cargo and hull insurance for transits of the Strait of Hormuz have risen sharply, reflecting heightened exposures on that route. Insurers’ losses, however, have reportedly outstripped those premium gains, leaving carriers of the financial burden despite market rate moves.
Insurers’ willingness to continue providing cover has been presented as a market response intended to support energy trades considered critical to global supply chains. according to reports item, the decision to keep offering war‑risk protection played a direct role in enabling shipments to continue amid the conflict.
Market participants cited in the report emphasised the unevenness between headline rate increases and actual net returns for underwriters. The IUMI official’s warning underlines the broader tension insurers face when underwriting elevated war exposures while publicised premium rises do not neutralise cumulative claims and operating costs.
Underwriting strain and market signals
The IUMI official framed the situation as evidence that headline premiums alone do not capture the full financial picture for war‑risk underwriters. The report suggested that the industry’s aggregate losses measured in billions are the result of sustained claims and exposure payments tied to the conflict.
Those losses, as described in The report, have occurred even as brokers and underwriters adjusted commercial terms and publicised higher rates for transit insurance. The discrepancy between higher listed rates and actual underwriting outcomes is the central point raised by the IUMI source.
Implications for energy flows and shipping costs
The article linked insurers’ continued cover to the continued movement of energy cargoes through a key maritime choke point. By providing war‑risk protection, underwriters have allowed traders and ship operators to maintain routes that might otherwise have been altered or halted, according to the report.
Sources carried the IUMI official’s assessment on 24 September 2026, and the piece framed the insurers’ losses as supporting global energy trades despite an adverse financial result for the insurance sector.
The IUMI official’s comments, as relayed by the source, are a reminder that market headlines about rising premium rates can mask deeper underwriting pressures. Those pressures, the report argued, have produced losses running into the billions for companies underwriting war risks connected to the US‑Iran conflict and related transits through the Strait of Hormuz.
The article in reports serves as the base for this account; it reported the IUMI official’s view that the industry has shouldered significant financial exposure to keep energy cargoes moving in a period of heightened geopolitical risk on 24 September 2026.