The Ukrainian industrial company Interpipe relies solely on its resources to cover the cost of insurance against marine war risks.
Interpipe’s Director of Procurement and Logistics Oleksii Yanovskyi announced this while commenting on the situation regarding insurance of marine war risks, particularly the special mechanism called "Unity Insurance Facility" and reinsurance by the Ukrainian government.
This was reported by the CFTS portal, citing the publication RBK-Ukraine.
"Unfortunately, we do not feel the impact of these initiatives and mechanisms. Today, we can only rely on our resources to cover the cost of war risk insurance," he said.
The company, which exports 40% of its products (railway products and pipes) through the ports of Greater Odesa, noted that the cost of war risk insurance has not changed significantly since the opening of the so-called "temporary corridor" and remains excessively high.
"In my opinion, it will not change until a legally significant ceasefire regime is established. The fact that shelling is less systematic and destructive at some point does not guarantee that an attack will not occur at any time convenient for the aggressor. In other words, the risks remain, and so does the high insurance cost," Yanovskyi said.
Interpipe also raised the issue of the need to receive compensation from the state in case of damage to merchant ships (ideally including cargo ships) because of Russian actions. Given the small number of such incidents, Yanovskyi believes that the burden on the state budget would be insignificant.
"But the mere existence of a political will to do so creates the conditions for greater confidence among shipowners, which will increase the number of those willing to operate in Ukrainian ports. As a result, we can expect a reduction in insurance rates. Of course, a simple, clear, and transparent compensation mechanism needs to be developed and implemented, and a major strategic communication campaign should be conducted," he said.
