欧洲在关键航运保险方面的支配地位是中国实现其野心的一大障碍。

对俄罗斯石油出口的广泛制裁凸显了潜在问题。

Rare Earth Insurance Partner（瑞恩保险经纪）首席执行官王为先生在接受《南华早报》采访时发表了评论。

中国航运业以其世界工厂的地位为支撑，在过去的几十年中得到了迅猛发展，中国现在拥有世界上十大港口中的七个。除此之外，中国还与东亚邻国日本和韩国一起主导着世界造船业。

同时，中国也努力加速其航运相关的法律和金融服务的发展，但王为表示，这些专业服务仍然远远落后于其基础设施建设。

“如果我们说在过去的四十年里，中国船只的数量从一艘增加到了一百艘，那么同期中国的承保能力也从一增加到一百了吗？事实并非如此。”王为说道。

他表示，中国保险公司已经扩大了他们的水险产品在船体和货物保险方面的保障范围。据国际海洋保险联盟称，以保费规模衡量，中国在2021年成为了全球最大的货运险市场和第二大的船舶险市场。

但王为表示，中国在某些特定类型的水险方面仍然扮演着微不足道的角色，例如保赔险以及再保险。

“这些领域长期以来一直被欧洲和美国所主导，中国要突破这个障碍是相当困难的。”他说。

尽管中国进入全球水险市场的威胁并不迫在眉睫，但香港保险联合会表示，西方的支配地位仍然可能是个问题。

在向《南华早报》的书面回复中表示，再保险仍然“由国际再保人所主导，这可能会在类似俄乌冲突的情况下引发不同的制裁问题。”

自2019年北京发布了其湾区发展计划以来，促进该地区的水险发展已成为重要优先事项。制造业大省广东、香港的国际金融中心以及广州、深圳和香港的顶级集装箱港口被一并纳入计划。分析人士表示，这是孵化中国水险的理想地点。

点击此处阅读全文。

European dominance of key insurance for shippers a hurdle for Beijing’s ambitions.

Wide-ranging sanctions on Russian oil exports in response to the Ukraine war highlight potential problem.

Among other comments, Wang Wei, Rare Earth Insurance Partner’s Chief Executive, shares his views with the South China Morning Post.

Bolstered by its status as the world’s factory, China’s shipping industry has developed rapidly in recent decades and the country is now home to seven of the world’s 10 biggest seaports. It also dominates the world’s shipbuilding industry, alongside East Asian neighbours Japan and South Korea.

Efforts have also been made to accelerate its development of shipping-related legal and financial services, but Wang Wei, said such professional services still lagged far behind its physical infrastructure.

“If we say the number of Chinese vessels increased from one to 100 in the past four decades, has its underwriting capacity also increased from one to 100 during the same time? It’s doubtful,” Wang said.

He said Chinese insurance companies had widened the scope of their marine insurance products in hull and cargo coverage. In terms of premium volume, China was the largest cargo insurance market in the world in 2021 and the second-largest hull insurance market, according to the International Union of Marine Insurance.

But Wang said the country still played a negligible role in some specific types of marine insurance, such as protection and indemnity, and reinsurance.

“These sectors have long been dominated by Europe and the United States, and it would be quite hard for China to break that barrier,” he said.

… While there was no imminent threat to China’s access to the global marine insurance market, Western dominance could still be a concern, the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers said.

In a written reply to the Post, it said reinsurance was still “dominated by international reinsurers, which can bring up different sanctions issues” in situations like the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Since Beijing outlined its bay area development plan in 2019, promoting the area’s marine insurance industry has been a key priority. Incorporating Guangdong province’s manufacturing powerhouse, Hong Kong’s international financial centre, and top container ports in Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, analysts said it was the ideal location to incubate the sector in China.

Click here to read the full story.