The transportation insurance market remains soft, according to the NIP Group’s Transportation Insurance Pricing Survey for the third quarter of 2010. The survey was issued to leading transportation insurance brokers, wholesalers and underwriters representing thousands of account placements and is used to benchmark changes in the availability and rates in the transportation insurance market.
Survey participants believe that there has not been much change in carrier behavior since last quarter and that there remain many carriers chasing premium in the transportation market. Rates continue to fall across all account sizes in line with the most recent prior quarters’ results, according to the survey, which measures premium changes across 10 different transportation segments, including trucking operations, intermodal carriers, messenger/courier services, ambulance/paratransit, school bus contractors, bulk transportation, airport ground transportation, charter/tour bus operators, specialized carriers/riggers and limousine services.
Compared to last quarter, survey participants report that underwriters of bulk transportation, specialized carriers/riggers, ambulance and airport ground segments are resisting further rate decreases. From a line of business perspective, a significant number of respondents believe that the rate contraction in the worker’s compensation line of business is beginning to ease, with more than 50 percent indicating rates are flat or up from last quarter. However, umbrella and owner-operators rate are heading in the other direction and continue to fall.
“TIPS results indicate that rate decreases are in line with last quarter, with underwriters in a few segments and lines of business pushing back in an attempt to hold rates flat,” says Richard Augustyn, chief executive officer of NIP Group Inc. “It remains a buyers market, with more than enough underwriting capacity available. We will continue to monitor TIPS to see if this trend will continue and how the market reacts to the rollout of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s new Compliance Safety Accountability initiative.”
