Black Sea: ship insurance costs soar – Ninova calls for state guarantees
After drone attacks, some insurers refuse cover for voyages to Bulgaria. Tanker policies cost up to $2.5 million. Ninova wants a state guarantee fund for imports.
Archive image · Photo: Alexey Komarov / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Kornelia Ninova, leader of the Unbowed Bulgaria party, on Monday evening called on the state to urgently guarantee insurance for imports and exports across the Black Sea. “One of the big problems is that insurers are refusing insurance, or it becomes so expensive that it is unaffordable,” she said. For imports, Ninova proposed a temporary state guarantee fund covering policies fully or partly, or state guarantees. For exports, she wants to expand the capacity of the Bulgarian Export Insurance Agency and ease its conditions. Ninova accused the government of dithering and incompetence.
According to shipowner Todor Georgiev, cargo and hull insurance tripled after the attacks in Bulgaria's exclusive economic zone, Money.bg reported. Lukoil Bulgaria's special manager Evgeni Simeonov said insurance for an oil tanker in the Black Sea had risen from about $200,000 to $2.5 million per vessel. The Burgas refinery has crude oil until early December, he said.
Financier Nikola Yankov warned on bTV that some insurers had raised premiums while others refused cover for ships in the western Black Sea. “If there is no insurance, we are closing the ports of Varna and Burgas,” he said. Yankov urged Bulgaria to seek more active NATO support, including constant surveillance and patrols.