How does war-risk insurance differ from ordinary marine insurance?

In the context of maritime law, the primary distinction between ordinary marine insurance and war-risk insurance lies in the scope of coverage regarding hostilities and civil disturbances.

Standard ocean marine insurance policies are designed to cover perils "of" the sea—such as stranding, sinking, or collision—but they typically exclude losses resulting from war. This exclusion is often formalized through the Free of Capture and Seizure (FC&S) warranty, an express warranty written into the contract that explicitly removes war as a covered cause of loss.123

Because standard policies do not cover these events, shipowners must secure separate protection. War-risk insurance is specifically intended to cover losses arising from acts of war, capture, seizure, and related hostilities. In many nations, this specialized coverage is provided through governmental agencies rather than standard commercial marine insurers. While comprehensive coverage pressures have led some insurers to include war-risk riders in broader agreements, these remain distinct from the core perils covered by ordinary marine policies.41