This is not a geopolitics story. It is a commercial repricing event. Every apparel brand, textile manufacturer, and sourcing office that ships through or near the Persian Gulf is now operating under a fundamentally different cost structure—one built on three stacking surcharge layers that function as a de facto war tax on every garment moving from East to the West.
Layer * — War Risk Insurance. The London insurance market’s Joint War Committee expanded designated war-risk zones across the Persian Gulf. All major P&I clubs cancelled war risk cover effective midnight March *. New policies emerged at * per cent of vessel hull replacement value — up from *.** per cent pre-conflict, a fourfold increase. Some premiums surged over *,*** per cent. The crisis grew so acute that Washington launched a $** billion reinsurance programme through the Development Finance Corporation (DFC), with Chubb as lead underwriter, according to the DFC.
