Pakistan’s ports are off the London insurance market’s war-risk list for the first time since 2001.
Pakistan has been removed from the war-risk list maintained by the Joint War Committee of Lloyd’s, the London insurance market, ending an inclusion that lasted 25 years. The decision takes Pakistan and its territorial waters off the list of areas flagged for hull war, piracy, terrorism, and related perils, a designation that had shaped the cost of insuring ships calling at Pakistani ports since 2001.
The announcement was made by Minister for Maritime Affairs Muhammad Junaid Anwar Chaudhry at the Pakistan Logistics and Shipping Summit. He said the change would improve the competitiveness of Pakistani exports and strengthen the confidence of international shipping companies, traders, and investors. According to the minister, the war-risk premium attached to Pakistani trade had been fluctuating for years but has now dropped to zero following the removal.
Pakistan was added to the list after the September 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, a period when insurers widened the map of regions they considered high-risk. For more than two decades, that status meant additional war-risk insurance premiums and surcharges were applied to shipping and trade moving through Pakistan’s maritime areas, raising costs for exporters and importers alike.
What the War-Risk List Means for Shipping
The Joint War Committee is made up of members of Lloyd’s marine insurance syndicates along with representatives from the wider London market. It publishes a list of areas judged to carry enhanced risk from war, terrorism, and similar perils. Ports, coastlines, and waters that appear on the list are assessed independently, and their inclusion feeds directly into how underwriters price cover for vessels operating there.
When a country sits on the list, ships traveling to its ports typically face an extra war-risk premium on top of standard insurance. Those added costs are often passed along the supply chain, making cargo more expensive to move and, in some cases, making shipping lines more cautious about scheduling calls. Removal works in the opposite direction, lowering the insurance burden.
The committee updates its listed areas periodically. The latest edition, which took Pakistan off the list, replaced the previous version and came into effect after the customary notice period that applies to London market war-risk policies. Other adjustments in the same update involved boundaries in the Gulf of Aden and the definition of the Saudi Arabian listed area, reflecting the committee’s ongoing monitoring of maritime conditions.
How Pakistan Was Removed From the List
The process began earlier in the year. According to Chaudhry, the matter was formally taken up with Lloyd’s on March 13, after officials noted that Pakistan and its maritime areas had remained on the listed areas since 2001. A report on the issue was forwarded to the prime minister, who then formed a special committee to prepare Pakistan’s case for removal.
That committee was headed by Chaudhry and included stakeholders from the country’s three main ports, the Ministry of Maritime Affairs, and the private sector. The group held negotiations with Lloyd’s officials and presented Pakistan’s case, arguing that the country’s maritime areas no longer warranted the war-risk designation they had carried for a quarter of a century.
The minister said he expected the change to make Karachi Port, Port Qasim, and Gwadar more attractive to global shipping lines and investors. He framed the removal as an opportunity to build up regional trade, cargo transit, and transshipment, the practice of moving goods through a port en route to another destination. The summit where the announcement was made drew freight forwarders, maritime experts, policymakers, and senior management from the three ports.
The removal took effect through the Joint War Committee’s latest listed-areas update, following the standard notice period for London market war-risk policies. Pakistan had been on the list since 2001.
