War risk insurance is a type of insurance which covers damage due to acts of war, including invasion, insurrection, rebellion and hijacking. Some policies also cover damage due to weapons of mass destruction. It is most commonly used in the shipping and aviation industries. War risk insurance generally has two components: War Risk Liability, which covers people and items inside the craft and is calculated based on the indemnity amount; and War Risk Hull, which covers the craft itself and is calculated based on the value of the craft. The premium varies based on the expected stability of the countries to which the vessel will travel.
Private war risk insurance policies for aircraft were temporarily cancelled following the September 11, 2001 attacks and later reinstated with substantially lower indemnities. In the wake of this cancellation, the US federal government set up a terror insurance program to cover commercial airlines. The International Air Transport Association has argued that airlines operating in states which do not provide war risk insurance are at a competitive disadvantage in this area.
A detailed study of the Insurance of War Risks and Terrorism, including related perils such as Strikes, Riots, Civil Commotion, and Military or Usurped Power is available from the Insurance Institute of London (Research Study Group Report 258).
Famous quotes containing the words war, risk and/or insurance:
“One must know that war is common, justice is strife, and everything happens according to strife and necessity.”
—Heraclitus (c. 535–475 B.C.)
“Nature, we are starting to realize, is every bit as important as nurture. Genetic influences, brain chemistry, and neurological development contribute strongly to who we are as children and what we become as adults. For example, tendencies to excessive worrying or timidity, leadership qualities, risk taking, obedience to authority, all appear to have a constitutional aspect.”
—Stanley Turecki (20th century)
“In taking out an insurance policy one pays for it in dollars and cents, always at liberty to discontinue payments. If, however, woman’s premium is a husband, she pays for it with her name, her privacy, her self-respect, her very life, “until death doth part.””
—Emma Goldman (1869–1940)