The 2024 Cefor year in review
A great many of Cefor’s activities take place within the member forums and the Board. While each forum has its own area of responsibility and focus, additional value is generated from cross-forum consultation and coordination.
Facilitated by digital meeting tools in combination with in-person meetings, the forums and Board remained very active with a total of 27 meetings in the reporting year. Ad hoc working groups were also formed to deal with special issues.
To ensure compliance with all relevant competition law regulations within all Cefor forums, working groups and the Board, the Association’s Competition Law Statement and Guidelines are regularly discussed and communicated to all appointed officials.
Nearly 120 member representatives are involved in the Board and the ten Cefor member forums that were active in 2024: Cargo Forum, Claims Forum, Coastal & Fishing Vessels Forum, Compliance Forum, Offshore Energy Forum, Plan Revision Forum, Sanctions Forum, Statistics Forum, Sustainability Forum, and Technical Forum. The Sanctions Forum was established in April 2024 to monitor and discuss issues related to the application of different sanction regimes, including the introduction of new sanctions and/or updated guidance(s) from relevant authorities.
Contributing to a sustainable ocean industry is an overarching purpose of all activities within Cefor. The Sustainability Forum has an overarching role and works with all other forums and the Board in an advisory role to drive change. A review of the Cefor strategy was initiated in 2024 to further integrate sustainability into the work of the Association.
These were some of the main activities that took place in 2024 within our four main function areas:
Modern and up-to-date insurance conditions
The Nordic Plan
Based on the all risks principle, the Nordic Marine Insurance Plan (‘the Plan’) is recognized as a fair and balanced set of conditions for protecting shipowners’ interests through a comprehensive and coordinated solution for all standard non-P&I marine and offshore insurances. The Plan is tailor-made for the well-known Nordic claims handling model. Many clients around the world favour this service model because of the active support and cooperation a Nordic claims leader offers to shipowners.
The Plan is regularly updated to offer clarity and certainty. All amendments are drafted and agreed by a committee with strong representation from Nordic shipowners, often supported by their Nordic brokers. This ensures a fair and balanced approach, focusing on the practical needs of the insured and avoiding any gaps in cover.
The Plan is published on nordicplan.org, with the latest version uploaded to the Nordic Plan App for smartphones and tablets. Printed copies of the Plan are available for order. With the Finnish translation completed early 2024, Version 2023 is now available in four Nordic languages in addition to the original English text. A comparison between the Plan and the Institute Time Clauses – Hulls (ITCH 83) is published on the Cefor website .
In May 2024, Cefor and the four other signatories to the Nordic Plan Agreement signed an amended version of the Agreement. The amendments included the four-years revision cycle that had already been agreed as an addendum to the previous version of the Agreement, a change of some of the timelines and the consultation procedure, and a clarification of when a new version comes into force. Further, governance rules relating to confidentiality, competition rules and governing law, and the apportionment of expenses in the event of termination, were also added to the Agreement.
The next version of the Nordic Plan will be Version 2027, which is due for completion by 1 October 2026. Deadline for suggested amendments from the signatory parties is 1 June 2025, and work continued throughout the reporting year both within the Cefor Plan Revision Forum and several of the other forums to prepare for the next version. A Young Plan Group was formed with representations also from the Nordic shipowners to consider specific projects.
In September 2024, Cefor finalized an updated version of the introductory brochure, explaining some of the main benefits and contents of the Nordic Plan. Printed copies are available for members, brokers, education institutes and others for use in market meetings, training and events.
A catalogue of Nordic Plan on-demand webinars was also made available on the Cefor website. The catalogue is due for completion in 2025.
Nordic Floating Windfarms Wording
A Nordic Floating Windfarms agreement was signed between Cefor, the four Nordic shipowners’ associations and Equinor on 1 September 2023. Work on the development of possible standard conditions for the construction & installation phase and for the operation phase of floating windfarms continued throughout 2024.
Small craft clauses
List of regulations in Appendix A to the conditions for commercial vessels less than 15 metres long (Cefor Form 280) together with some other slight amendments were updated and subsequently published in December 2024.
Sanctions
In October 2024, Cefor issued a Sanctions Limitation Clause for covers not subject to the Nordic Marine Insurance Plan of 2013. In the reporting year, Cefor also published a circular with an annexed price cap attestation form and a sanctions due diligence questionnaire with a non-exhaustive list of key questions likely to arise during the due diligence process in respect of the insurance policy, call, transfer, or shipment of cargo.
Leading provider of statistics
Cefor and its members are constantly striving to further enhance the quality of the comprehensive and up-to-date ocean and coastal hull data compiled in the Nordic Marine Insurance Statistics (NoMIS) database.
Extensive NoMIS reports for ocean and coastal hull claims and portfolio trends are published bi-annually on the Cefor website. The 2024 publications, based on data at year-end 2023, highlighted an upward trend in claims cost and the inflation impact on the cost of hull claims. Fires represented the costliest claims, in a year with some increase in major losses overall. The hull trends in the context of the trade and shipping environment were explained in more detail by Cefor’s Analyst/Actuary in a webinar in April 2024. In August 2024, the half-year report on hull claims trends as of June was published. The 2024 NoMIS ocean and coastal hull and portfolio trends per year-end are presented in separate reports on the Cefor website and in a webinar 8 April 2024.
In December 2024, a dedicated analysis of the CO2 emissions of the NoMIS portfolio was issued. Aspects covered were absolute emissions, the alignment with net-zero emission reduction trajectories as set out by IMO, and a potential correlation between emissions and claims.
To maintain the high level of data quality, all NoMIS members carry out annual checks on their own reported data quality.
Cefor also plays a vital role on the Facts and Figures Committee of the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI). In 2024, this included Astrid Seltmann’s responsibility for compiling data, with the ‘Global Marine Insurance Report’ presented in Berlin at the 2024 IUMI Conference in September.
Building competence
The marine insurance industry is highly specialized. Relevant, practical learning is offered by and for the industry through Cefor. The administration plays a vital role in delivering high-quality marine insurance training, which is in great demand from the industry. Course contents in the Cefor Academy programme are designed in cooperation with the Association’s members, who contribute lecturers, examiners, and other know-how to make this training the most highly rated of its kind in the Nordic region.
Cefor Academy
The comprehensive Nordic Marine Insurance Education Programme is designed to give students a good general understanding of all relevant aspects of marine insurance. The part-time Cefor Academy programme is an integral part of the training for marine insurance professionals in the Nordic market. On completion, a certificate is issued to document the student’s understanding of relevant terms and conditions as well as the basic principles behind them. Experts from Cefor member companies and a Norwegian law firm serve as lecturers during the six sessions taking place in three Scandinavian countries.
28 students received their final certificate of completion in 2024.
Cefor Academy received a high number of applicants to the 2024-2025 programme, and in August 2024, a record number of students, 39 in total, met for their first session.
Webinars & Seminars
Cefor organised four public webinars in 2024. A Loss of Hire webinar was held 10 January with Marlena Truszczynska of Norwegian Hull Club and Norwegian Average Adjuster Andreas Nesheim as presenters. General Average webinars were held 21 March and 18 June with Marlena Truszczynska (NHC) & Hermann Steen (Wikborg Rein) – Part 1, and Robert Tomlinson (Gard) & Joseph Shead (NHC) – Part 2, as presenters. The 2023 hull claims trends were presented by Astrid Seltmann in a webinar 9 April 2024.
Eight additional webinars were organised by the forums for members of the Association with the following topics: biofuels & new ISO 8217:2024 (Bunker Holding Group), EU taxonomy’s relevance for marine insurance (Advokatfirmaet Selmer A/S), battery fire (Brim Explorer), propagation prevention of battery systems (Corvus Energy), new Lloyd’s Open Form (Gard), nuclear propulsion (CORE POWER), and onboard charging of electric vehicles (Stena Rederi).
In November 2024, a well attended Marine Warranty Surveyor Seminar was organised in Oslo. The seminar focused on the application of safety regulations and marine warranty practices in othe offshore energy industry.
Catalogue Nordic Plan webinars
A catalogue of on-demand presentations and recordings intended to provide an overview of the main principles and rules under the Nordic Plan will be completed in 2025. Recordings from two of the public webinars listed above are a part of these, and six additional presentations were recorded and subsequently published on the Cefor website in 2024.
Cefor Learning Design & CPD guidelines
Under the EU Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) and most of its transpositions, employees working with the distribution of insurance products are required to undergo 15 hours of relevant Continuing Professional Development (CPD) training every year. Denmark has opted for a different solution with an exam which is allowed under the IDD, and in Norway, only CPD training by authorized providers such as educational institutions and pre-approved trade associations is allowed.
Cefor is approved as a provider of CPD training for and on behalf of its Members by the Financial Supervisory Authority in Norway. The Learning Design/Curriculum and Member Guidelines for CPD training were reviewed by the Board in December 2024.
The CPD requirement came into force in Norway from 2023. In January 2024, all Cefor members with offices in Norway confirmed in writing that they had established routines and that all relevant employees had undergone training in compliance with the Learning Design.
Influencing framework conditions
The overall objective of Cefor’s framework-related activities is to promote legislation and industrial policies that contribute to a sustainable ocean industry and represent the members’ common interests in the field of marine insurance.
To operate efficiently and provide a level playing field, international marine insurance and shipping industries depend on a global regulatory framework. Cefor is a strong supporter of international regulation of what is essentially a global industry, as opposed to regional or domestic regulation.
At an international level, most of the industry-related issues are dealt with through Cefor’s membership of the International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI). A list of current issues from IUMI’s Policy Forum is regularly updated and published by IUMI and on the Cefor website.
The following were some of the most important issues for Cefor in the reporting year:
Safe delivery of IMO’s GHG strategy
In July 2023, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) revised its strategy on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vessels with a commitment to phasing GHG emissions out by 2050. In June 2023, IMO’s Maritime Safety Committee (MSC) agreed to undertake a regulatory assessment of safety aspects associated with reducing GHG emissions from vessels in line with the Organization’s strategy and to develop a road map to support the safe delivery of this strategy. Work is also ongoing to ensure adequate training of seafarers on alternative fueled vessels.
To support the owners in their transition to new and greener fuels and the risks they carry, Cefor has facilitated knowledge-sharing between our members and owners, class, engine manufacturers and other experts. The Association is also supportive of new standards and regulations to be developed for the protection of crew, the oceans and property and continuously consider the need of any amendments in the standard insurance conditions to facilitate decarbonization.
Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS)
Regulatory considerations on Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) are ongoing at the IMO, with an agreement to consider this in a holistic manner through the development of a goal-based instrument (MASS Code). Finalization and adoption of a non-mandatory Code is planned for May 2026. This will be followed by an experience-building phase. The earliest possible entry into force of a mandatory MASS Code will be 1 January 2032.
Fires on board container vessels
Based on concerns raised by Cefor and IUMI about fires in the cargo on board container vessels, MSC has agreed to consider fire detection and firefighting in view of SOLAS amendments for new vessels from 2028. Considerations of possible regulatory amendments are ongoing through an IMO Fire Protection Correspondence Group, with insurers advocating for mandatory requirements for fixed water monitors as well as improved fire detection methods both on and under deck.
Loss of containers
In February 2023, IUMI co-sponsored a proposal to the Maritime Safety Committee for a new output on prevention of loss of containers at sea which was later agreed. A Correspondence Group (CG) is tasked to identify potential amendments to relevant IMO instruments. The CG will also undertake a revision of guidelines for the preparation of the cargo securing manual (MSC.1/circ.1353/rev.2) to include a harmonized performance standard for lashing software as a supplement to the cargo securing manual. IUMI participates in the Correspondence Group.
In May 2024, IACS issued two new Unified Requirements for lashing software and the scope of approval and certification of lashing systems. The new URs will come into force on 1 July 2025.
Electric vehicles
The transport and charging of electric vehicles on board vessels is an increasing concern, and Cefor is pushing for guidelines to fill a regulatory gap related to this new risk. The Technical Forum was also involved in the LASH FIRE project, an international research project related to fires and alternative fuelled vehicles (AFVs), that was completed in August 2023. In June 2023, the Technical Forum further agreed to engage in a new research project headed by Swedish research institute RISE on the use of CO2 on electric vehicles fires on board car carriers. The project, named COFFEE, was granted EU funding in November 2023, and Martti Simojoki (The Swedish Club and member of the Technical Forum) represents Cefor in the reference group.
In March 2024, MSC commenced work on the evaluation of the adequacy of fire protection, detection and extinction arrangements in vehicle, special category and ro-ro spaces to reduce the fire risk of vessels carrying new energy vehicles. The output will also include considerations of the charging of electric vehicles on board vessels. The work is due for completion in 2027, with SOLAS amendments not expected to enter into force before 1 January 2032.
4-year rule premium
Due to a clause in the Norwegian Insurance Activities Act (Forsikringsvirksomhetsloven), Norwegian insurers have been prohibited from competing with other markets to assist in the transition towards renewable energies through builder’s risks insurance to large projects such as floating windfarms. Cefor and Equinor raised this challenge with Norwegian authorities in January 2023, and in December 2024 the rule was removed through a legislative process. Removal of the 4-year rule for binding of premium took effect from 1 January 2025.
Floating repair docks
For several years, Cefor has emphasized the need for regulation of floating repair docks along the Norwegian coast and addressed this with the authorities. In October 2024, Cefor sent a letter to the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority that has been identified at the appropriate regulatory body, requesting that this work be initiated.
Stern tube damages
In May 2024, the Cefor Technical Forum issed a memo to raise awareness and promote actions that can mitigate the risk of claims related to stern tubes.