Surging Oil Tanker Insurance Points to Growing Black Sea Chaos

The cost of insuring ships sailing through the Black Sea is surging again, as spiraling attacks on vessels underscore the growing risk of hauling commodities through the region.

Underwriters are now charging about 1% of the value of a ship for calls at any port in the region, according to people involved in the market. That’s up from about 0.7% at the end of last month.

The surge is a sign of the intensifying danger of sailing in a waterway that has been designated as risky by insurers for almost three years, but where attacks are steadily mounting.

In the past few days, two oil tankers were struck near the Caspian Pipeline Consortium loading terminal, which is a vital location for exporting Kazakh barrels. Ukraine said earlier in the week that two ships, one due to carry grains and another transporting soybeans were also struck by Russian forces.

“We are certainly seeing an increase in the tempo and frequency of attacks,” said Martin Kelly, head of advisory at EOS Risk Group. “There is no specific profile that is higher risk at present, other than calling at Russian and Ukrainian Black Sea ports and terminals.”

Some ships have been adopting new ways to avoid attack, though they haven’t all been successful.

Some have been sailing close to the Turkish coastline, rather than across the center of the Black Sea in the hope of avoiding Ukrainian drones. Still, an oil tanker was reportedly struck about 30 miles from Turkish shores last week local media reported.

Others have turned to switching off their digital tracking systems, though that offered little protection for the vessels attacked on Tuesday.

Top photo: A ship navigates the Bosphorus Strait as the sun rises on May 03, 2025 in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosphorus Strait in Turkey, links the Black Sea and the Marmara Sea, and is a natural continental boundary between Asia and Europe. It is a vital shipping transit route allowing maritime connections from the Black Sea all the way to the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean making it a crucial shipping route for the movement of goods worldwide. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images).