BETWEEN the 16th and 19th centuries, more than 12m enslaved Africans were transported across the Atlantic against their will, in what still marks the largest forced migration in all of history. Around 2m of them died during the journey.

Shipping and marine insurance played a central role in making these horrors happen.

Early editions of Lloyd’s List, which has been around in print since 1734, sometimes carried reports of insurrections from these unwilling passengers. Predictably enough, the stories were slanted in favour of the shipowners.

Living human beings were relegated to the status of mere cargo. Particularly notorious here is the 1783 legal decision in Gregson v Gilbert.

The case centred on the decision of the master of a vessel called Zong to throw 130 enslaved Africans overboard when drinking water ran low, and then claim the loss back on his Lloyd’s underwriters, who refused to pay out.

A jury found that the killings were legal and that the claim was valid. The verdict was overturned by judges on appeal, but only because navigational errors exacerbated the water shortage.

Some of the industry’s biggest names, including Lloyd’s of London itself, have acknowledged and apologised for their role in this dark chapter, and there can never be enough education on the industry’s role in such shocking events.

But this week’s warning by the International Union of Marine Insurance on modern slavery highlights the continued presence of what is now known as modern slavery in the shipping and logistics sectors.

A newly published IUMI report implores insurers to “recognise the reputational and legal consequences of insuring unethical operators” and acknowledges that “while not directly involved, the industry can be indirectly linked to these practices and may inadvertently enable them”.

If asked where they would expect to find some of the estimated 28m people affected by modern slavery worldwide, many people would answer with agriculture, construction, maybe even mining.

The uncomfortable truth is that some of the practices of our industry clearly fall into the International Labour Organisation’s definition of modern slavery: “All work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the person has not offered himself voluntarily”.

Indicators of forced labour stipulated by the ILO include the withholding of wages, deception and the restriction of movement. Sound familiar?

Shipping’s skyrocketing abandonment problem and the increasing denial of shore leave fit the bill on at least two counts.

IUMI secretary-general Lars Lange acknowledged that insurers are “one step removed” from these operations and “often face practical limitations in detecting these abuses given their indirect role and the complexity of global supply chains”.

That might be true. Or it might be an excuse to not have to look too hard under the carpet. Ask Lloyd’s of London how much it knew in 1750.

David Osler
Law and marine insurance editor, Lloyd’s List

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