Latest ONI World Wide Threat to Shipping Posted (20 July2005)

Go here and click on the date. Highlights:

2. M/V (HANSEDUO) fired upon, attempted boarding, 16 Jul, east coast of Somalia.
3. M/V (PARANA) fired upon, attempted boarding, 16 Jul, east coast of Somalia.
4. Container ship fired upon, attempted boarding 18 Jul, off
Caluula, NE coast of Somalia.
5. RORO ship fired upon, attempted boarding 17 Jul, off Caluula, NE coast of Somalia.
6. General cargo ship (SEMLOW) hijacked, 27 Jun, off the coast of Somalia.

And this discussion of "war" insurance rates:

The London insurance market
Joint War Committee, in a sweeping overhaul of their listed
war-risk areas, provided new guidelines to underwriters listing a
total of 21 areas worldwide in jeopardy of “war, strike, terrorism
and related perils” per 01 Jul article. Areas specified included
the Strait of Malacca and adjacent ports in Indonesia. The Joint
War Committee has a purely advisory role and insurers remain free
to decide whether to seek additional premiums. Members of the
committee based decisions on reports from their staff and from the
external consulting agency of Aegis Defence Services. ONI NOTE:
The listing of these areas by the Joint War Committee does not
automatically affect rates or cause cancellation of insurance
policies’ standard war risks clauses. If individual underwriters
act upon the Committee’s listing, it will be in the form of a
notice of cancellation with effect seven days from the notice. At
that point insureds. Would have to determine if they wish to
secure and pay for more expensive special war risk cover for
transits through the Strait. Cancellation of standard war risk
clauses usually results from actual war risk related loss or
expectation of it, and not from the kind of “analysis” performed
by Aegis Defence Services. It is unclear to ONI analysts if the
cancellation of standard war risk clauses would imply that piracy,
now typically covered under protection and indemnity insurance,
would be transferred to a covered war risk or whether only risks
from terrorist action would be covered under the new war risk
policy. If it is the latter case, it is unclear whether the
underwriter or the insured bears the burden of showing that
damages from an attack were due to terrorism, rather than piracy.
In the short term and absent any actual losses attributed to “war”
causes in the Strait, ONI preliminarily assesses it is likely no
general cancellations will be issued and no special cover will be
sought...