Boat & Motor Dealer / Manna Dock Age, December 2006

There’s good news and bad news for marina insurance in 2007
By Mark Yearn

Perhaps the year’s biggest story in the insurance industry is the one that didn’t happen — insurance companies dropping off by the droves following yet another horrific hurricane season.

If the 2006 hurricane season had turned out to be as bad as some predicted, it would have caused a further erosion in the willingness of insurance companies to provide coverage to marinas. Worse still, insurance companies that continue to provide coverage would have felt justified in increasing their pricing again. In light of such a scenario, marina owners would be best served to be skeptical of anyone, myself included, who came along saying he or she has “the” insurance solution for marine businesses located in the hurricane-prone areas of the country.

Fortunately, nary a hurricane has even come close to the United States, giving those high risks areas somewhat of a breather for this year. As a result of this lack of activity, there is even an indication that there may be some increased availability of insurance coverage for those exposed businesses in the typical hurricane zones.

So the good news for those businesses located in the hurricane-prone areas of the country is that coverage may once again become more readily available to marinas. The bad news? It will come at a price.

The bad news

Although this year’s hurricane season has been quiet, there has not been enough distance between the terrible seasons of the last three years for underwriters to forget the damage an aggressive hurricane season can do to the bottom line. A hurricane season with little or no activity, including the mild winter last year in much of the country, has allowed underwriters to reinforce their balance sheets and reduce the overall carrying costs of the losses from prior years.   Continue »