Piracy puts shipping cover costs on the rise

The cost of insuring shipping against piracy has increased 100% because of attacks on shipping off Somalia and Nigeria.

Insurance broker Marsh said attacks on vessels doubled in the first quarter of the year, triggering massive insurance claims and the huge rise in premiums.

Marcus Baker, head of marine insurance at the broker in London, said ships that had been paying a premium of 0.05% of the value of their goods a year ago were now being charged as much as 0.1%.

Experts told Bloomberg that owners of tankers and container ships were also spending as much as $40,000 (£24,000) per passage on security guards. Baker said: "Piracy is a pretty challenging piece of risk to underwrite."

Pirate attacks off Somalia almost doubled to 102 in the first quarter. There are also problems in Nigeria and Indonesia.