The Nordic marine market has seen a third year of increased marine costs as major losses impact results.

The 2025 report of the Nordic Association of Marine Insurers (Cefor) based on the Nordic Marine Insurance Statistics (NoMIS) have put a figure on the costs of machinery and hull claims to the market.

It warned 2025 is the third consecutive year with elevated claims costs. Both major losses and inflation of repair costs have contributed to the increased cost level.

“There was an extraordinary increase in claims above $10 million and increase in total losses on vessels with values above $10 million, but also a big increase in medium-sized claims,” Cefor explained. “The main driver of the recent increase in claims costs are machinery failure and fires. Machinery damage showed a substantial increase in recent years, which should be seen in the context of an ageing fleet, while fires continue to dominate major losses.”

For smaller vessels in Nordic waters claims costs returned to more average levels after extraordinary major loss impact in the fishing vessel segment in 2024. However, the coastal segment showed a similar upward trend in machinery-related costs as observed in the ocean hull segment. Another feature was the occurrence of claims clusters in connection with extreme weather events in Norway.

“Ocean hull claims costs remained elevated in 2024–2025, with the claim cost per vessel 33% above both pre‑pandemic and 2021 levels,” The report revealed. “The rise is driven by costly machinery failures, fires, inflation, and an ageing fleet.

“Inflation impact is illustrated by various indicators. The figures show a strong correlation between the claim cost per vessel. Another indicator is the unusual upward adjustment of claims reserves in 2024 and 2025 for claims occurred in previous years

“Further, the ageing fleet and crewing issues are illustrated by the increase in the share of inspected ships being detained in recent years. Major losses accelerated: the number of claims above $10 million doubled from 9 in 2023 to 18 in 2024. Remarkably, half of the 2024 claims first grew into that range in 2025.”

It continued: “ Normally, the cost of major losses can be assessed rather quickly. 2025 continues along the same lines, with already 13 such claims reported by year-end 2025. 2025 is the third consecutive year with losses above $50 million.

“Large claims are prone to random variation but claims below $5 million also show a persistent and material increase to a level previously only seen in 2006-2008. Fires dominated severity: 7 of the 13 claims above $10 million losses in 2025 were fires, and in six of the past ten years fires accounted for 40–70% of the costliest losses, increasingly affecting even younger vessels. Total losses mostly occur on low-value vessels, as a claim becomes a total loss when the cost exceeds a certain % of the vessel’s value under its hull and machinery coverage”

Cefor said unusually the increase in total losses in 2024 and 2025 on vessels with values above $10 million. The claims frequency continues its post‑pandemic climb for claims above $10,000.

“While the overall frequency of total losses remains low, it has risen for vessels with higher values,” the report added. “Machinery claims now exert broader influence: The frequency of machinery claims over $500,000 is 30% higher in the period 2022–2025 than in prior years – contributing to a 50% jump in the machinery claim cost per vessel. Machinery claims have longer reporting backlogs and are increasingly coded as human error which may be linked to crew shortages.”

It terms of major losses Cefor said after the pandemic, the claim cost per vessel increased substantially and has since 2023 exceeded the pre-pandemic level.