Marine hull rates increasing; insurers competing on cargo.

Marine hull rates generally are still rising, with most risks renewing 5% to 10% higher at midyear, though some shipowners are seeing flat renewals. Cargo rates, meanwhile, are down slightly, observers say, as insurers increasingly compete for business. Marine market sources say that hull rates overall are still rising at midyear. David Southwood, a marine broker at Heath Lambert Group Ltd. in London, England said that marine hull rate increases have averaged between 5% and 10% during the past year. Christopher Spratt, joint chief executive at Tyser, noted that while some London marine underwriters have pulled out of the market, a portion of that capacity has turned up elsewhere in London.