Briefing: Adjuster’s plea may leave marine sector all at sea

It is a conference many in the insurance industry may well not have heard of, but this year’s Association of Average Adjusters (AAA) annual conference, held last week (7 May 2026), may well have set the cat amongst the pigeons for the global marine insurance sector.

The profession of average adjusting remains largely unknown outside the narrow sphere of the shipping world dealing directly with marine casualties. It is only when catastrophe strikes that an adjuster is recruited to advise on indemnities, rights and obligations under insurance policies.

The marine general average (GA), a principle of maritime law where losses and expenditures are shared proportionally between those with a financial interest in a voyage, has been in place for 140 years, having first been implemented in an effort to stop Victorian cargo owners from paying salvors extra to unload their goods from wrecks first.

Under the GA, the insurers of every container or piece of cargo on a given vessel will share the costs of the lost cargoes on a percentage basis, negating the advantage of preferred cargo removal.

However, at the conference held at Lloyd’s, outgoing AAA chairman Chris Kilbee made a call for wholesale reform of longstanding hull insurance practices.

Modern realities

In the crosshairs of Kilbee’s speech were the UK 1983 Institute Time Clauses – Hulls (ITC), the standard hull insurance policy clauses used in the London market.

Although widely regarded as a benchmark for clarity and practicality, Kilbee said that some important elements and application of these clauses were now outdated and no longer aligned with the realities of modern shipping and the overall product.

He said: “The mercantile world has changed dramatically. Time is now as critical as cost, yet many claims practices still reflect outdated priorities.

”While the clauses have been highly successful, they are aging and out-of-step with modern commercial realities and this is contributing to inconsistencies and inefficiencies in claims handling. Perhaps now is the time for a review”.

However, while the debate around the ITC has begun, the calls to amend aged marine insurance practices may well open up a very old wound.

When modern GA practices were codified by an update to the York-Antwerp Rules introduced in 1890, the concern of rule makers was aimed far more at cargo losses than the lives of the crew. As a result of this, protection and indemnity (P&I) clubs did not sign up to the rules and remain reluctant to issue GA guarantees on behalf of cargo interests.

Times have changed since the late 19th century, however, and the lives of crew member are now far more important than cargo stored in the hold. But despite attempts by the marine hull and cargo market to bring the P&I clubs into the arrangement, they have steadfastly refused.

If marine average policies are now up for revision, it may well see the GA debate revived in the marine insurance market – and that is sure to be lively.