The insurance risks in the Black Sea exceeded the significance of the Iran-Iraq tanker war.
The increase in the number of attacks in the Black Sea leads to unprecedented insurance costs. Insurance premiums for risks related to the Black Sea War reached 20% of the cost of a ship for high-risk voyages, exceeding even the highest rates seen during the Iran-Iraq tanker war of the 1980s.
The insurer notes that some of the ships heading to the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal in Novorossiysk were subject to insurance premiums of 20%, although most of the offers were significantly lower. By comparison, historical research from the University of Texas and contemporary reports from the London insurance market show that in the 1980s, insurance premiums for tanker war risks were as high as 7.5% and sometimes exceeded 10%.