Somali Pirate Attacks Sink Premiums as Insurers Leap Aboard

Kidnap and ransom premiums paid to insure against Somali piracy have slumped since the BBC Trinidad was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden in August 2008 as escalating attacks spurred more companies to offer coverage. Buying $5 million of coverage now costs as little as $15,000 per voyage, half the peak rate in 2008, said William Miller, divisional director of Willis Group Holding Plc’s Kidnap and Ransom, or K&R, unit in London.