Lloyd’s of London has insured ships against being lost in wars and storms since it was a 17th-century coffee shop where captains and merchants mingled. It has experienced good times and bad, including the Gulf “tanker war” of the 1980s, in which hundreds of vessels were attacked.
The market has carried on through battle and woe, turning London into a leading hub for marine war insurance. So ship owners worried when underwriters cancelled existing policies for tankers and other ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz after the US and Israel started bombing Iran. Passages in the strait have slowed to a near halt.
London’s reputation is at risk, along with vessels and buildings around the Gulf after Iran responded with missiles and drones. Sir Charles Roxburgh, Lloyd’s chair, has tried to reassure anyone who will listen that the insurance market remains open and cancellations were just the first step in a well-worn procedure. Prices go up when war breaks out, often very sharply.