West P&I Club has today launched its West Piracy Protection solution.

Designed to help manage the evolving threat of piracy in high-risk waters, the new product provides cover for vessels entering a war and piracy breach area, such as the Gulf of Aden or the Gulf of Guinea, where there is a heightened risk of vessels being seized.

This new offering is tailored to provide insurance protection for piracy events where the traditional war policy coverage does not respond adequately to indemnify for the typical seizure situations that can take place in these areas, including incidents where ships are sometimes held for just a few hours.

Indemnities are provided for ransoms, including loss of transit of a ransom and the costs of response consultants and legal experts, including reputational risk expenses. Expert support is provided for employees directly impacted by the seizure. Additional coverage is available for Loss of Hire related to a seizure and for a maximum period of 14 days after release of the vessel.

This new product has been developed in partnership with Hamilton, written by Syndicate 4000 at Lloyd’s. Embedded emergency expertise is provided by Crisis24.

Richard Turner, head of product development at West said: “West Piracy Protection responds to the realities of the evolving piracy threat faced by owners in such locations as the Gulf of Aden and the Gulf of Guinea. We have seen a pattern of incidents where a vessel is hijacked for just a few hours, meaning that current market wording on Loss of Hire may not be triggered, or ceases as soon as the vessel is released, with little regard for the knock-on consequences, which may include crew changes or vessel repairs.

“Our new product will stand out from the market, not just for the extended coverage but also the embedded expertise we can offer with Crisis24 and HFW. Through this new offering, we look forward to providing West Members and other shipowners with the support to manage the ever-present threat of piracy.”

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