Asia marine premiums near $11bn as steady rise continues

Asia Pacific marine premiums continued their recent upward trend in 2023, rising to almost $11bn.

Premiums in the region have been steadily recovering after dropping below $8bn in 2016, an 11-year low.

According to International Union of Marine Insurance (Iumi) data, the Asia Pacific region accounted for 28.1 percent of global marine premiums in 2023.

This is the second highest of any region, behind only Europe’s 48.5 percent share.

Last year was the second consecutive year in which Asia Pacific marine market premiums topped $10bn. In 2022, market premiums hit $10.17bn before rising by 7.47 percent to $10.93bn in 2023.

This outpaced the 5.9 percent year-on-year increase in global marine market premiums in 2023.

While premiums in Asia Pacific are rising, the region’s market share has declined modestly from the recent high of 31.8 percent seen in 2019, according to Iumi statistics.

The 28.1 percent market share recorded by the region in 2023 was 0.3 percentage points down year on year, but above the 10-year low of 27.1 percent seen in 2015.

Asia Pacific marine hull market premiums hit $3.27bn in 2023, equivalent to a 35.5 percent share of the $9.2bn in global hull premiums, according to Iumi.

It was also up on the $3.11bn reported in 2022, although the Asia Pacific market’s overall share of marine hull premiums fell by 1.5 points year on year to 35.5 percent.

Loss ratios deteriorate

Iumi said there had been a slight deterioration in 2023 accounting year marine hull loss ratios in Asia, mirroring the trend seen in Europe.

Aside from 2021, Asian market loss ratios had trended downwards in all years between 2017 and 2022.

2022 was the first year since 2015 in which the loss ratio was below 60 percent.

And, despite the noted small deterioration, 2023’s marine hull loss ratios for Asia stayed below 60 percent.

Asia Pacific marine cargo premiums hit $7.12bn in 2023, equivalent to a 32.2 percent share of the $22.1bn in global hull market premiums, according to Iumi.

This was up 8.56 percent on the region’s 2022 cargo premiums, and also represented a 0.2 point increase in overall market share.

Like hull, Asia cargo recorded a deterioration in its 2023 accounting year loss ratio. This was the second consecutive year of loss ratio increases following the nine-year low seen in 2021.

But the 2023 loss ratio, sitting at around the 50 percent mark, was still a dramatic improvement on the 60+ percent ratio recorded in 2018.