China is working on a $15 billion marine insurance hub that would give its shipping companies an alternative to Western cover, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. Chinese maritime officials are in talks with shipping companies, banks and insurers about raising the money for a new insurance and reinsurance center. The plan aims to have a working China marine insurance system in place by 2029.
Marine insurance covers shipowners, cargo operators and other maritime businesses against losses from accidents, damage and other risks at sea. Western institutions have led the market for decades, with the Lloyd’s of London market holding a central place in marine insurance and reinsurance. A China marine insurance hub would add a large new source of cover outside that system.
China marine insurance plan takes shape
The talks are at an early stage, according to people familiar with the discussions cited by the Journal. No financing has been agreed, and the project faces financial and operational hurdles that could slow it down. Beijing wants the China marine insurance hub to cover major maritime risks, including shipwrecks, the loss of vessels and deaths among crew members.
The report came days after seven Chinese government agencies issued joint guidelines on marine insurance on November 6. The document, called the Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the High-Quality Development of Marine Insurance, calls for stronger domestic capacity to assess and price maritime risks. It also pushes wider use of the yuan to pay insurance premiums and claims.
China marine insurance and the yuan
China already collects the world’s largest cargo insurance premiums. Cargo insurance premium income reached 33.8 billion yuan in 2025, about 18 percent of the world total, while hull insurance reached 8.7 billion yuan, about 12 percent. The figures were given by Wang Xuwen, an inspector in the property insurance supervision department of the National Financial Regulatory Administration, at a shipping forum on October 20.
Scale has not brought pricing power. Liu Shanghai, executive vice president of the China Shipowners’ Association, said at the same forum that Chinese companies have had little say in the clauses written into policies or in how rates are calculated. China marine insurance reform asks insurers to keep a larger share of domestic risks at home instead of passing them to foreign reinsurers.
The International Union of Marine Insurance put worldwide marine premium at $42.6 billion for 2025, up 5.5 percent on the year and above $40 billion for the first time. China has been the world’s largest cargo insurance market and the second-largest hull insurance market for several years in a row.
Why China marine insurance matters now
Western sanctions on Russian oil shipments and conflict-related disruption to commodity trade have shown why China marine insurance is a strategic issue. During the Red Sea crisis, war-risk rates rose from a few per mille to between 1 percent and 5 percent, and quotations were valid for only short periods. Insurers also face new risks from extreme weather, regulation and cyber security.
A China marine insurance hub would give shipping companies another place to buy cover, and it would cut China’s reliance on Western financial institutions at a time of tension over trade and sanctions. The Journal reported that Chinese officials see the hub as a way to protect international trade against sanctions and geopolitical disruption.
The guidelines also cover insurance for high-value vessels such as liquefied natural gas carriers and ultra-large container ships, along with cover for alternative-fuel bunkering. The plan runs from a ship’s construction in a yard to its dismantling at a recycling facility.
The seven agencies behind the guidelines are the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the Ministry of Transport, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Commerce, the People’s Bank of China and the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission. The document was dated September 17 and published on November 6.
For now the China marine insurance hub exists only in discussion. The Journal said negotiations remain at an early stage, with no guarantee that the financing, operational infrastructure or market confidence needed will be secured by 2029.