Marine insurers will need to place greater emphasis on loss prevention as risks become more complex and costly to insure, according to Pascal Dubois, chair of the International Union of Marine Insurance's Loss Prevention Committee.
Speaking at IUMI's Annual Conference in Rotterdam, Dubois described a broader shift he sees across both society and the insurance industry: away from responding to losses after they occur, and toward taking measures to prevent or limit them before they happen at all.
"At a macro level, nations are increasingly recognizing that allocating capital alone will not be enough to manage climate change," Dubois said. "Prevention is now becoming an important component of public policy, helping to contain the costs associated with climate change while also reducing the impact of events such as wildfires, floods and other natural catastrophes. This is about preventing an event from occurring or limiting its impact, rather than simply repairing the damage afterwards. We are definitely seeing a global transition from 'repairing' to 'prevention,' and marine insurance should take note."
Dubois's framing reflects a pattern already showing up in government responses to climate-driven catastrophe risk across multiple regions.
Colorado's HB25-1182, which took effect in July 2026, ties eligibility for the state's FAIR Plan to demonstrated wildfire mitigation work rather than treating coverage as unconditional. In California, insurers including Verisk have begun incorporating catastrophe modeling and mitigation credits directly into how policies are priced under the state's Sustainable Insurance Strategy. Meanwhile, in South and Southeast Asia, flood-prone economies with historically limited catastrophe insurance penetration are increasingly the focus of prevention-oriented development finance rather than post-event compensation alone.
Each of these is a national or regional expression of the same underlying logic Dubois is describing for marine insurance specifically: shifting public and private capital toward avoiding losses rather than only paying for them once they occur.
Dubois acknowledged that marine insurers already undertake extensive loss prevention work, but said this will need to evolve further as the risk landscape grows more complex and uncertain. He also expects loss prevention to become less concentrated among the largest insurers, with preventative measures increasingly adopted across the SME sector globally.
"Nowadays, the issue for an underwriter is not only price and conditions," he said. "It is increasingly about incorporating loss prevention into the insurance proposition, and I see this spreading across all elements of our sector."
He warned that as the business becomes more complex and uncertain, some insurers may simply be unable to offer cover for certain activities because premiums become unaffordable or risk appetites become too restricted, a pattern he said is already visible in the wider insurance market in relation to certain natural catastrophe risks, echoing the same affordability and availability pressures already reshaping property insurance markets in wildfire-exposed parts of the western United States, cyclone-exposed regions of the Asia-Pacific, and flood-prone areas of continental Europe.
Dubois expects marine insurers to invest further in prevention capabilities over the coming years, including greater access to technical expertise and dedicated loss prevention specialists.
"Currently, underwriters and claims handlers far outweigh loss prevention professionals," he said. "I expect this balance to begin to change as insurers respond to an increasingly complex and uncertain risk environment."
IUMI's own role, he said, is to raise awareness of systemic risks across the global marine insurance community, encouraging insurers worldwide to develop and implement effective loss prevention programs within their own organizations, regardless of the jurisdiction or market segment in which they operate.
IUMI's Loss Prevention Committee and Cargo Committee are currently working together on the use of wood packaging materials, including pallets and crates, in cargo transportation, an area governed globally by International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures 15, though the requirements are not always well understood by shippers or insurers.
IUMI's guidance highlights that non-compliance with ISPM 15 generally results in operational disruption, such as detention, fumigation, repacking or forced return of a shipment, rather than physical damage to the cargo itself, and that a single non-compliant pallet in a consolidated shipment can trigger regulatory action affecting multiple, unrelated cargo interests sharing the same container.
The guidance addresses responsibilities and compliance throughout the supply chain and identifies simple, low-cost measures, such as sourcing wood packaging from registered treatment providers and verifying compliance marks before loading, that can help prevent disruption regardless of which country a shipment passes through.
Marine brokers should expect loss prevention credentials to become a more visible part of renewal conversations as underwriters begin distinguishing between clients who can demonstrate proactive risk management and those who cannot.
