Hellenic War Risks Club celebrates its 50th anniversary

The Hellenic War Risks Club is celebrating its 50th year of operation in 2011. The Association’s founding Directors, which included J C Carras,  J E G Kulukundis, C M Lemos, D J Chandris and F P Lykiardopulo, recognised a need for Greek shipowners to come together on a mutual basis to provide the most competitive war risk insurance premiums, which, at the time, were difficult and expensive to obtain.
The Association currently insures over 70% of the Greek merchant fleet for war risks.
In recent years, the Association has been profoundly affected by Somali piracy incidents in the last three years with 15 entered ships having been seized since 2008.
At the Association’s Annual General Meeting the Association reported a positive result for the year, despite the payment of several large claims in the year, mostly relating to Somali piracy.
The Hellenic War Risks Club introduced Piracy loss of hire cover in response to numerous enquiries from members concerned about the commercial risks of sailing through the Gulf of Aden, the Indian Ocean and other areas. The Club continues to offer optional insurance for hire lost as a result of war risk damage but it now also offers members the option of extended loss of hire insurance that covers hire lost if a ship is seized by pirates, even if the ship has not been damaged.