ln the first of a series of unusual risks covered by the Lloyd’s market, Jon Guy talks to Bruce Carman of Atrium about insuring helicopters in war torn Baghdad.
Getting contractors from Baghdad International airport to the relative safety of the “Green Zone” is no easy task – waves of insurgent attacks on major roads and aircraft have made it harder to get on with the job of re-building the country. And in the past six months the number of aircraft, including helicopters, shot down or crashed has increased by a third, making the task of insuring against these attacks seem impossible.
“Not so,” says Lloyd’s underwriter Bruce Carman. “It is possible to assess and mitigate against these risks but the devil is in the level of information you can get on the steps operators are taking to reduce them.”
Atrium has developed a questionnaire which gathers as much intelligence as possible and asks, amongst other things, about the experience of the crew piloting the helicopter, the number of aircraft which will be used at any one time, whether they’ll be transporting passengers or cargo and if any special tactics will be used to make the helicopters a harder target to hit.
“Clearly it is an area where there is a great deal of risk, particularly with increased use of surface to air missiles. Many of the firms use former armed forces pilots who have experience in Iraq,” says Carman. “The aim for these operators in terms of reducing risk is to ensure that there is no routine or pattern which will make it easier for the insurgents to predict when they will be in the air and the routes used.”
While he adds that there are only a handful of firms seeking to operate such services a contract with a major firm in Iraq can run into tens of millions of dollars. There are only a few insurers outside of Lloyd’s which would be willing to consider insuring such a highly specialised risk.
“The rewards are potentially significant for the operators. But adequate insurance cover is vital given that the banks will look for coverage as a prerequisite of any loans to purchase the aircraft.”
“By providing what is a highly specialised product we believe that we are playing a role in the international reconstruction effort.”
