MORE SHIPPING LINES WARN OF WAR RISK SURCHARGE

MORE SHIPPING LINES WARN OF WAR RISK SURCHARGE    More shipping lines are warning shippers that increased insurance premiums on vessels will be passed on to shippers as freight surcharges.
   “Because of the current shaky situation, an additional war risk premium on all vessels passing the Suez channel and calling.. countries (in the Mideast and African regions) will become due,” Senator Lines said in a statement.
   According to Senator, the war risk areas defined so far by insurers are: the Persian or Arabian Gulf and adjacent waters including the Gulf of Oman North of 24’N; Angola, including Cabinda; Israel; Lebanon; Libya, including Gulf of Sidra/Sirte; Eritrea; Somalia; Congo; Liberia; Sri Lanka; Sierra Leone; Yugoslavia; Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea; Yemen/People’s Republic of Yemen; Pakistan; Oman; Syria; Algeria and Egypt.
   The ocean carriers of the Far Eastern Freight Conference also warned of the effect of the terrorist attacks in the United States on insurance costs.
   “Insurance underwriters are canceling existing war risk insurance and have already published lists of war risk exclusion areas for which additional premia will be charged, although the levels of the additional premia have not yet been advised,” the conference said.
   The carrier group intends to apply an emergency surcharge for cargo on bills of lading dated on or after Oct. 1 in respect of vessels scheduled to transit the Suez Canal. The Far Eastern Freight Conference carriers will also apply an additional emergency surcharge for “cargo received or delivered at ports which are within the exclusion zones announced by the insurers (presently understood to include Lebanon, Libya, Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea, Syria, Algeria and Egypt).”
   The levels of these emergency surcharges will be announced as soon as possible, the conference said.