Many veteran marine war risk underwriters claim nothing has happened in the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine that they have not experienced before.

An armed threat and attacks on shipping with the intention of influencing international trade, followed by sky-high war risk rates, have all been witnessed in previous conflicts.

Inevitably, comparisons have been drawn between the situation in Ukraine and the so-called tanker wars in the 1980s, which involved direct missile attacks on tankers in the Middle East Gulf and Strait of Hormuz.