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Marine cargo premiums up 11 per cent to Sh651 million

cargo

Goods being offloaded from a ship. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Local marine cargo insurance (MCI) premiums have recorded a 10.6 per cent growth to reach Sh661 million as at the end of September, up from Sh591 million in June.

“Compared to the same period last year (September 2016), the premiums have grown by 69.4 per cent from Sh390.2 million,” said industry lobby Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI). Gross written premiums (GWP) or coverage since January now stands at Sh1.8 billion, the AKI added.

On January 1, the government started to implement a regulation—section 20 of the Insurance Act—that compelled importers to buy marine cargo insurance policy from local underwriters.

To fully implement Section 20 of the Insurance Act, the statute law (Miscellaneous Amendments) Act, 2017 changed section 20 (4) of the Insurance Act to increase penalties from Sh10,000—and/or imprisonment of up to one year—to Sh5 million and/or imprisonment of up to five years for non-compliance.

Further, the Marine Insurance Act Cap.390 was amended to make it compulsory to insure marine cargo imports. The latter will be operational from January 1, 2018. AKI, state department for maritime and shipping affairs, Kenya Trade Network Agency and KRA have been key agencies in implementation.

Importers now make online application for marine cargo insurance via a portal on the Kenya TradeNet System operated by KenTrade.