Key ship insurer the China P&I Club (中國船東互保協會) will halt indemnity coverage for tankers carrying Iranian oil from July amid tightening Western sanctions against OPEC’s second-largest producer, two club officials said yesterday.
This is the first sign that refiners in China, Iran’s top crude buyer, may struggle to obtain shipping and insurance to keep importing from the Middle Eastern country. Iran’s other top customers — India, Japan and South Korea — are running into similar problems, raising questions on how Tehran will be able to continue to export the bulk of its oil.
Oil prices are up nearly 14 percent since the start of this year on concerns that Iranian supplies may be disrupted because of Western sanctions. Brent crude oil traded above US$123 a barrel yesterday.
The China P&I Club, whose members include major Chinese shipping firms Sinotrans (中外運航運) and COSCO Group (中國海運集團), is the first Chinese maritime insurer to confirm it will halt business with tankers operating in Iran, following similar action in Japan.
“Many ship owners want to join our club and want our club to cover this risk, but considering all these regulations from the United States and the EU, I know the China P&I club will not do that,” said a Hong Kong-based official with the insurer, which provides coverage to more than 1,000 vessels. “The China P&I club will not take the risk. We have asked our members not to go there, if they go there, they take their own risk.”
Starting in July, European insurers and reinsurers will be barred from indemnifying ships carrying Iranian crude and oil products anywhere in the world, in line with sanctions on Tehran.
Iran sells most of its 2.2 million barrels per day of oil exports in Asia, where China, India, Japan and South Korea are the four biggest buyers. They have either made a cut in imports or pledged to do so in the face of growing sanctions pressure by the West intended to compel the Islamic Republic to halt its disputed nuclear program.
Asian ship owners will be further limited in their search for insurance to replace their -European-based coverage as the China P&I Club was seen as one alternative. It was not clear if other Chinese ship insurers were also planning to reduce tanker coverage.
“I really don’t know what will happen,” a Beijing-based Chinese industry official said. “We are talking about [US]$1 billion [per tanker]. No single insurance company can handle that.”
China P&I Club is not a member of the Group of International P&I Clubs, an association of -customer-owned ship insurers that cover 95 percent of the world’s tankers against pollution and personal injury claims. The Chinese insurer has applied to join the club and could become a member as early as February next year, industry sources said.
Japan’s main shipping insurer last month said it would only be able to provide a fraction of the coverage for tankers.
European insurers provide cover for the majority of the world’s oil tanker fleet. Industry officials say ship owners who can still legally trade with Iran will be hard pressed to find sufficient alternative insurance, which is also likely to be less comprehensive.
Authorities have detained three former Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TMSC, 台積電) employees on suspicion of compromising classified technology used in making 2-nanometer chips, the Taiwan High Prosecutors’ Office said yesterday. Prosecutors are holding a former TSMC engineer surnamed Chen (陳) and two recently sacked TSMC engineers, including one person surnamed Wu (吳) in detention with restricted communication, following an investigation launched on July 25, a statement said. The announcement came a day after Nikkei Asia reported on the technology theft in an exclusive story, saying TSMC had fired two workers for contravening data rules on advanced chipmaking technology. Two-nanometer wafers are the most
NEW GEAR: On top of the new Tien Kung IV air defense missiles, the military is expected to place orders for a new combat vehicle next year for delivery in 2028 Mass production of Tien Kung IV (Sky Bow IV) missiles is expected to start next year, with plans to order 122 pods, the Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) latest list of regulated military material showed. The document said that the armed forces would obtain 46 pods of the air defense missiles next year and 76 pods the year after that. The Tien Kung IV is designed to intercept cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to an altitude of 70km, compared with the 60km maximum altitude achieved by the Missile Segment Enhancement variant of PAC-3 systems. A defense source said yesterday that the number of
A bipartisan group of US representatives have introduced a draft US-Taiwan Defense Innovation Partnership bill, aimed at accelerating defense technology collaboration between Taiwan and the US in response to ongoing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The bill was introduced by US representatives Zach Nunn and Jill Tokuda, with US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party Chairman John Moolenaar and US Representative Ashley Hinson joining as original cosponsors, a news release issued by Tokuda’s office on Thursday said. The draft bill “directs the US Department of Defense to work directly with Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense through their respective
Tsunami waves were possible in three areas of Kamchatka in Russia’s Far East, the Russian Ministry for Emergency Services said yesterday after a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit the nearby Kuril Islands. “The expected wave heights are low, but you must still move away from the shore,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, after the latest seismic activity in the area. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning System in Hawaii said there was no tsunami warning after the quake. The Russian tsunami alert was later canceled. Overnight, the Krasheninnikov volcano in Kamchatka erupted for the first time in 600 years, Russia’s RIA
RSS