IUMI Education Forum

In 2014-2015 the "Education" theme was identified as one of the priorities to be considered and developed by IUMI.Thanks also to the significant economic contributions of some countries, including Italy, the Education Forum -a team composed of experts from the Marine sector from all over the world -was born in 2016, with the aim of providing the marine insurance industry with useful training material for a successful professional growth.

In a complex and specialised sector as the Marine world is, being able to have educational tools offers the opportunity, to those who already have experience in the branch, to deepentheir knowledge on specific topics.At the same time, it can be an excellent opportunity, for those who are entering this sector, to take advantage of specific material to increase their skills.

The Education Forum (EF) is a rather young but well-structured reality that operates according to a well-defined approach: it aims to identify the various needs coming from the sector and develop useful resources for the Marine community.

Basically, the EF, according to the requests received from the various member countries, identifies the topics to be developed and made available to users through specific training tools.In these first three years, EF’s work was focused on various fronts. Webinars and Online Tutorials deserve a special consideration.

 

IUMI Webinars

Webinars are interactive seminars on specific topics conducted by specially selected professionals.

To date, more than 40 webinars have already been put in place (practically one per month) with a wide range of topics covered. For reasons of space, I will mention only a few: 

• The new Incoterms® 2020 rules -an update
• The 2020 Low Sulphur Limit -Potential Consequences to Marine Insurers
• Getting ready for the future: Update on regulatory developments for Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS)
• Blockchain: Transformation for Cargo Insurance14 February 20202
• Cargo theft -minimizingrisk in global supply chains
• Practical aspects of General Average
• Unmanned vessels -legal aspects to consider from an insurance perspective
• Trends and Risks associated with Vessel Lay-Ups and Reactivation
• Paris MoU on Port State Control
• New SOLAS Rules for Container Weight Verification -What is the Impact?
• Cyber Coverage Clause -Cargo underwriter view

I wish to emphasise that the webinars are available for free to everyone. The transition to the new GoToWebinar platform allowed IUMI to overcome some critical issues of the previous platform. Today registering (with your own credentials) and connecting online to attend the webinar is much easier.

If you are ANIA’s member you will receive an e-mail with all the necessary instructions. If you are not, you can register directly on the IUMI website.

In any case your info will be submitted to the webinar organizer who will use it to communicate with you regarding this event and their other services.

All webinar recordingsarealso available on the IUMI website. You can view the video of each session and download the presentation slides, both free of charge.

 

Online Tutorials (interactive online courses)

To date, 2 tutorials are available: one on Cargo (launched in August 2018) and one on Hull (available since April 2019).

They are made up of various modules that address specific issues in the two sectors.

11 modules for Cargo:

1. Introduction to international trade
2. Particular average and sue and labour
3. General Average (GA) and salvage
4. Exclusions
5. War and strikes
6. Durationprovisions
7. Claims
8. Stock throughput
9. Project cargo
10. Additional clauses (added by broker or underwriter)
11. Trade clauses

 

13 modules for Hull:

1. Ships 101
2. Particular average including sue and labour
3. Collision liability
4. General Average and Salvage
5. Exclusions
6. War and strikes
7. Operational considerations
8. Claims
9. Additional insurances
10. Additional clauses
11. Loss of hire
12. Mortgagees' interest insurance
13. Builders' risk

 

Both have interactive content, videos and quizzes to test the degree of preparation at the end of each module and are appreciatedfor various user profiles (Senior / Junior) and for different categories belonging to the marine world (Insurers, Brokers, Legal, Experts).

The average duration to complete each course is estimated at around 60-80 hours. Registration fees: Cargo Tutorial € 550 + VAT for IUMI members and € 880 + VAT for non-IUMI members; Hull Tutorial € 650 + VAT for IUMI members and € 1.040 + VAT for non-IUMI members. For more details, you can download the Hull and Cargo brochures from the IUMI website.

There are also two introductory webinars that explain in more detail the contents of the two tutorials as well as how to register: Hull Tutorial Introduction, Cargo Tutorial Introduction.

 

Education Worldwide

The various "education" initiatives developed by the member countriesare also available on the IUMI website. Just click on "Education / Education Worldwide" to consult the programs offered by the various associations. For Italy, the ANIASAFE course "Maritime, Shipping and Transport Law and Marine Underwriting Elements" andthe University of Genoa’s master degree "Maritime Insurance and Transport MASMET" are available.

 

Education Database

By clicking instead on "Education / Education Database" you access an online database that allows you to consult the presentations of thevarious annual conferences, the clauses in use in the various markets (from the English to the American, German, Scandinavian ones), as well as other technical material of interest to our sector.

 

Future Developments

I also take this opportunity to anticipate a new initiative that will be developed by the IUMI Education Forum in the next couple of years: In-class instruction. These will be real classroom courses for which the locations where to carry them out, the duration of the courses, as well as the technical contents of the programs to be offered will have to be identified. In this regard, ad-hoc survey will be conducted by IUMI to understand the appetite of the various member countries on this somewhat challenging initiative.

Most of the educational material is provided free of charge, although the preparation and presentation work required the commitment of several resources (see webinars).The economic efforts sustained by IUMI for the various activities on the Tutorials, which range from updates of technical contents to maintenance operations of the online platform, should also not be underestimated.

In practice, today the only paid material is the Tutorials which represents for IUMI a moderatesource of income. New proceeds from the sales of licenses would allow the development of new initiatives, but above all they would guarantee stability to the EF to establish itself in the long term by balancing the economic efforts made so far in order to be able to invest again in the future. In addition to "Cargo" and "Hull", new ideas are already being evaluated on upcoming online courses including: Loss prevention & risk assessment -Marine Claims -Reinsurance -Cargo forwarders' liability -Fine arts & species.

The marine sector is now acting into a highly specialised and competitive market that requires companies to have a well-trained staff to face the various daily challenges. Training undoubtedly plays a central role in this context, ensuring benefits that repay the investments in time and money made by the companies themselves.

Again, with reference to the online Tutorials, in addition to the course there is also the option of taking an exam (cost € 90) which, if passed, entitles you to obtain a specific IUMI Certificate. In this regard, it is with great pleasure (and with a touch of parochial pride!) to remind everyone that the first user ever to pass the exam was one of our compatriots: Michelangelo Todoro (Cargo UW di Chubb)