Historical observations, not a current insurance quote. This ledger preserves reported rates with their dates and bases. It does not establish the premium available for a vessel or voyage today.
Each row is a dated figure reported by a named outlet, not an index or a model. Where two outlets disagree, both are carried. Gaps are periods with no public reporting located, not zero. It is an event ledger of repricings, not a daily series: war-risk premiums move on events and then hold.
How to compare war-risk premiums
Read the region, insured product, value basis and covered period together. A per-transit observation and a per-seven-day observation are not directly interchangeable. Check whether a figure is before or after discounts before comparing two rows.
The Lloyd's Market Association's Joint War Committee guidance distinguishes Listed Areas from pricing: the committee identifies areas of increased war-related risk, while rates are negotiated between underwriters and brokers. A listed-area notice is not a market-wide tariff.
For a new voyage, confirm the applicable area, cover, period and terms with the broker or underwriter. For reported shipping developments, see our Hormuz maritime reporting; incident updates do not refresh the historical observations below.
Public sources cluster around two pre-crisis baselines: ~0.25% of vessel value per transit (Marsh, Jefferies) and ~0.1-0.15% of hull and machinery value per 7 days (S&P Global). We carry both rather than pick one, because every multiple-of-baseline claim depends on which is used.
Strait of Hormuz and the wider Persian Gulf
| Date | Reading | Rate | Basis | Region | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-02 | Pre-crisis baseline (cluster A) | 0.25% | per transit, vessel value | Gulf / Hormuz | Marsh, Jefferies (via Reuters / Insurance Journal) T2 |
| 2026-02 | Pre-crisis baseline (cluster B) | 0.1-0.15% | per 7 days, H&M value | Persian Gulf | S&P Global Commodity Insights T2 |
| 2026-03-05 | First week of the crisis | 3% | per transit, vessel value | Hormuz | Jefferies (via Reuters / Insurance Journal) T2 |
| 2026-03-05 | Same week, broker quote | 1-1.5% | per transit, varies east / west of the strait | Hormuz | Marsh (via Reuters / Insurance Journal) T2 |
| 2026-03-10 | Peak week, high-risk propositions | 7.5% | per 7 days | Middle East Gulf | Lloyd's List T2 |
| 2026-03-10 | Peak week, safer vessels | 1% or less | per 7 days | Middle East Gulf | Lloyd's List T2 |
| 2026-03-15 | Mid-March peak, stranded tankers | up to 10% | H&M value | Persian Gulf | S&P Global Commodity Insights T2 |
| 2026-03-27 | Week ended March 27, headline | 1.0% | per 7 days, H&M value | Persian Gulf | S&P Global Commodity Insights T2 |
| 2026-03-27 | Week ended March 27, after no-claims bonus | 0.8% (net) | per 7 days, net of NCB | Persian Gulf | S&P Global Commodity Insights T2 |
| 2026-04-10 | Single passage, quotes quickly withdrawn | 3% | single 7-day Hormuz passage | Hormuz | Argus Media (Oakeshott) T2 |
| 2026-04-10 | Post-ceasefire, flag-differentiated | 1.5-3% general; up to 5% US/UK/Israel-linked | per transit | Gulf / Gulf of Oman | Insurance Business (Neil Roberts, LMA) T3 |
| 2026-04-13 | Softening, large no-claims bonus in effect | 1% (before a 35-50% no-claims bonus) | AWRP, Mideast Gulf | Mideast Gulf | Argus Media T2 |
| 2026-05 | Rates held; no fresh dated print (48-day public-reporting blackout, Apr 14 to May 31) | held, not repriced | n/a | Hormuz | Willis Towers Watson (via Business Insurance) T3 |
| 2026-06-03 | Pre-MoU escalation | 4% | per 7 days, ship value | Hormuz | The National T3 |
| 2026-06-17 | Pre-MoU | 5% | vessel value | Hormuz | FT brokers (via Insurance Business UK) T3 |
| 2026-06-24 | Post-MoU trough, six days on | 2% (net) | vessel value, after discounts | Hormuz | FT brokers (via Insurance Business UK) T3 |
| 2026-06-28 | Ceasefire buckling | 3-8% | vessel value (industry estimates) | Hormuz | Insurance Business T3 |
| 2026-07-09 | Shipowners pulling back | 2-6% | vessel value ($6M on a $100M tanker at top) | Hormuz | Reuters / Marsh (via gCaptain) T2 |
| 2026-07-11 | Current norm; ~2% post-MoU low and ~10% earlier peak cited | 5% | vessel value | Hormuz | Xinhua / People's Daily (Neil Roberts, LMA) T3 |
| 2026-07-17 | Re-hardening, dispersion band | 3-10% | hull value ($3M-10M on a $100M hull) | Hormuz | The National / Marsh T3 |
Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb
A separate market with a separate baseline, carried on its own axis. A Red Sea rate is not comparable to a Gulf rate and should never be plotted against one.
| Date | Reading | Rate | Basis | Region | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-04-13 | Bab el-Mandeb, pre-escalation | 0.75% | H&M value | Bab el-Mandeb | Argus Media T2 |
| 2026-04-13 | Gulf of Oman | 0.5% | H&M value | Gulf of Oman | Argus Media T2 |
| 2026-07-17 | Indicative, before the embargo declaration | 0.3% | ship value | Red Sea / Bab el-Mandeb | Reuters (via Insurance Journal) T2 |
| 2026-07-20 | After the Houthi embargo declaration (+150%, no vessel struck yet at time of print) | 0.75% | ship value | Red Sea / Bab el-Mandeb | Reuters (via BOE Report) T2 |
Structural context
- 2026-03-03 Lloyd's Joint War Committee adds Bahrain, Djibouti, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar to its Listed Areas (JWLA-033), the trigger that makes the additional premium payable on entry.
- 2026-03-05 Six P&I clubs serve notice cancelling non-poolable charterers' war-risk liability extensions. Core poolable P&I and the CLC/Bunkers blue cards stay in force throughout.
- 2026-04-08 A ceasefire is announced. Underwriters report no rate decreases follow it; the softening had already happened in late March.
- 2026-06-19 A Lloyd's / Chubb marine war-risk consortium goes live: $200M hull and P&I capacity, $200M cargo. Lloyd's discloses the capacity and no pricing.
Method and caveats
Every row is a figure a named outlet reported on the date shown. We do not average competing figures or interpolate across the gaps; where two outlets disagree, both are carried. The additional war-risk premium is charged on entry into a Lloyd's Joint War Committee Listed Area, which covers the whole Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, not the strait alone, so a "Hormuz" premium is shorthand for the Gulf-wide rate. Wide bands in July are dispersion across flag, owner and route, not uncertainty in the reading: US, UK and Israeli-linked tonnage was charged several times the rate of other ships. This ledger prices hull war-risk cover only. P&I war-risk extensions, charterers' cover and crew war bonuses are separate products quoted on different bases and are not comparable to these figures. Corrections to this desk's own earlier war-risk reporting are recorded at Corrections.
Cite as: TankerBrief, Hormuz War-Risk Premium Ledger, tankerbrief.com/data/war-risk-premium, updated 2026-07-23.