Sinking of GFS Pride in Hormuz adds another total loss for marine war underwriters as brokers put tanker war premiums at 6% to 10% of hull value

The GFS Pride, a Singapore-flagged container feeder built in 2008 with space for 2,824 containers, sank after a projectile hit it in the Strait of Hormuz, Insurance Business reported on 14 October. All 21 crew were evacuated without injury. Insurance Journal reported that the ship was struck on 13 October. Its owner, UAE-based Global Feeder Shipping, also owns the GFS Giselle, which was hit on 14 October. The Giselle had hull damage but reached a safe anchorage under its own power, and its 22 crew were unhurt.

Insurance Business, citing IMO data reported by Reuters, said the Pride is the second vessel to sink since US and Israeli strikes on Iran began on 28 February. Iran's Revolutionary Guard says the ship struck a naval mine on a route that Iran had not authorised. The publication said a maritime security firm found no independent evidence of a mine. The cause matters for cover, because the Institute War and Strikes Clauses treat hostile acts and derelict mines separately.

The ship was entered with West of England for P&I. The club said the sinking is a 'matter for war risk underwriters', Insurance Asia News reported. Pakistan's hydrographic office has warned mariners of containers floating near the wreck.

According to Insurance Business, brokers told the Financial Times that additional war premiums for regional tankers are now 6% to 10% of hull value, against about 0.25% before the war. A Howden Re estimate, cited in August, put market-wide war, terror and political violence claims at $2bn to $3bn. That is more than the segment's estimated $1.5bn to $2bn of annual global premium. The Joint War Committee's listed areas still cover the whole Persian Gulf.

UK Maritime Trade Operations counted more than 20 vessels, mostly tankers, attacked in the region since 1 October. The Lloyd's Market Association says war cover remains 'available for a price'.