Pen Underwriting has appointed Kane Bryant (pictured) as war underwriter within Vessel Protect, its specialist marine war risk MGA, amid climbing demand for war cover as geopolitical instability at sea continues.
He will work alongside Vessel Protect's existing team of marine war underwriters, offering bespoke coverage for single vessels and large multinational fleets.
Tom Batterbury, managing director of Freeboard Maritime and Vessel Protect, welcomed Bryant to the team, citing his technical expertise, market insight and collaborative approach. Batterbury said Bryant will play an important role in strengthening the MGA's proposition and supporting its clients.
"With the marine war risks market still dominated by geopolitical volatility, highly dynamic pricing and the need for transit-by-transit risk assessment, our focus remains on providing brokers and their clients with quick enquiry turnaround, rapid exposure assessment, bespoke underwriting and consistency of cover," Batterbury said. He added that adding Bryant to the team will help Vessel Protect continue to differentiate itself on service as well as product in a complex and changeable environment.
The hire lands at a demanding moment for marine war underwriters. This year's Iran-Israel conflict saw war risk premiums for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz surge fivefold within 48 hours of the initial airstrikes, with Lloyd's Joint War Committee, run through the London-based Lloyd's Market Association (LMA), redesignating the entire Persian Gulf as high-risk. Tanker traffic through the strait, which normally carries around a fifth of the world's seaborne oil, collapsed by more than 80%.
The LMA has stressed that cover has remained available even as pricing has moved sharply, with most syndicates surveyed retaining appetite for hull and cargo war risks linked to the region.
Vessel Protect itself was drawn into coverage of that crisis. Munro Anderson of the MGA told Al Jazeera in March that the war insurance market was facing "a de facto close of the Strait of Hormuz, based primarily around perception of threat rather than a tangible blockade." The Red Sea has posed a parallel challenge since Houthi attacks began in late 2023, with the Joint War Committee's high-risk designation still covering waters around Bahrain, Djibouti, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
Backed by Lloyd's capacity, Vessel Protect offers war risk cover of up to US$250 million for any one vessel, alongside cargo war limits of up to US$100 million, said to be among the largest limits in the global marine war market, helping owners of high-value fleets that need to transit active conflict zones secure appropriate cover.
Bryant's appointment forms part of continued investment in Pen Underwriting's marine business, built through a string of 2023 acquisitions, including Vessel Protect, Trafalgar Marine Trades, BMM Ports & Terminals, Fortify Marine and Freeboard Maritime, and now one of the group's fastest-growing specialisms. Hayley Robbins joined as a new underwriter at Trafalgar Marine Trades last month, and this month Dolores Mirmi joins Pen's international ports and terminals specialism, trading as BMM P&T Ltd.
The hiring spree also reflects Pen's position in the UK's broader MGA landscape. The Gallagher-owned business hit its target of £1 billion in gross written premium a year early, in 2024, and has since set a new goal of £1.75 billion GWP by 2030.
Marine war risk, once a niche, low-premium line, fits squarely into that specialism-led strategy. With the Joint War Committee's list of high-risk areas expanding rather than contracting, and reinsurers increasingly requiring Black Sea and Gulf-linked exposures to be written on a net line basis, UK brokers are likely to value London market MGAs able to pair large automatic capacity with the underwriting depth to price transit-by-transit risk quickly.
