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Britain, which holds the biggest share of global marine insurance market, has committed economic suicide by backing the EU oil ban on Iran as a major client of tanker companies.
The EU sanctions, due to be implemented in July, prohibit EU insurers from underwriting all ships carrying Iranian oil.
Iran is the second biggest oil producer in the world and analysts say the ban will force tanker companies working with the country to withdraw their contracts from British insurers over fears that they could lose lucrative deals with Iran.
"I sense that many international shipping companies are challenged beyond what they find can be justified when looking at the potential earnings of trading with Iran," said Jakob Larsen, maritime security officer with BIMCO, the world's largest private ship owners' association.
Meanwhile, the International Group of P&I Clubs, which covers 95 percent of the global tanker insurance against pollution and personal injury claims, said the ban will deprive British firms of the lucrative Iranian market while suggesting the embargo will have long-term consequences for London's insurance revenues.
"It doesn't stop ship owners who wish to engage in that trade from getting insurance elsewhere. At the commercial level, there will be a loss of premium from those fleets, and a lot of migration to other markets," the group's executive officer Andrew Bardot said.
According to the International Union of Marine Insurers, London now leads the global race for controlling maritime insurance markets with a 17 percent share in the £5.36 billion cover against physical damage to the ships.
London also holds eight percent of the £8.2 billion global cargo insurance market.
The oil ban has little, if any, impact on Iran, which is exporting only 400 to 500 barrels of crude to the EU on a daily basis --compared to its overall daily exports of three million barrels of oil - which can be easily directed to Asia including the energy-hungry China and India.
However, the embargo and the subsequent loss of maritime insurance worth some £1.5 billion will deal a death blow to the British economy that has tightened the belt to the point of suffocation to handle its £83-billion national debt by 2015.
This comes as China and India have already defied the calls by the US and the EU to cut oil imports from Iran with India specifically hitting Britain by pulling out of a £9.4-billion Typhoon fighter purchase contract with London.
PressTV - Iran ban paralyzes UK marine insurance