Lithium-ion batteries trigger marine brokers complications

In 1688, greater than 300 years in the past, underwriters in a London espresso store organised the earliest identified Lloyd’s insurance coverage contract for a ship that set sail from London to Jamaica. At the moment, marine insurance coverage underwriting rules – and even the coverage paperwork themselves – include clauses which are a long time, even centuries previous. But, within the historically conservative world of marine insurance coverage, the trade is being compelled to rewrite the rulebook in response to a contemporary peril: the explosive fireplace threat posed by lithium-ion batteries. These energy-dense batteries, now ubiquitous in fashionable electrical autos (EVs), are shipped in colossal volumes aboard mega-sized container ships and automobile carriers, elevating the stakes for catastrophic loss at sea.