Berkshire Hathaway's Ajit Jain on Hormuz Marine Insurance: 'The Short Answer Is It Depends on the Price'

Ajit Jain, Berkshire Hathaway's vice chairman of insurance operations and one of the most respected underwriters in the world, gave the insurance industry some unusually candid commentary on Hormuz Strait marine risk at Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting in Omaha in May 2026. In response to a shareholder question about Berkshire's appetite for writing marine war risk for ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz — disrupted since the US-Iran conflict escalated in late February 2026 — Jain gave a characteristically principled and commercially disciplined answer.

'The short answer is it depends on the price,' Jain told shareholders. He confirmed that Berkshire had already taken 'a small participation in a programme that's been put in place to write insurance for ships in the Strait of Hormuz,' but added that the company has not yet written any deals, citing fine-tuning around underwriting terms and the need for assurance that the US Navy would escort ships through the strait. 'We have put a price for which we will be comfortable underwriting that risk, but nothing's happened as yet,' he said.

Jain's remarks recalled a near-identical statement made by the late Warren Buffett at Berkshire's 2020 annual meeting, when Buffett said the company had 'no reluctance to quote on very unusual things and with very big limits' and would 'consider writing' pandemic insurance at the right price — a philosophy that has defined Berkshire's approach to catastrophic and war-related risks for decades. The company was one of very few willing to write large terrorism risk insurance after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The US government had, in early April 2026, already announced it was doubling its commitment to provide reinsurance guarantees for ships travelling through the Strait of Hormuz from $20 billion to $40 billion — adding Berkshire Hathaway and AIG as partners in the programme, alongside the International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and Chubb and Starr. The expanded programme was designed to restore shipper confidence and encourage resumption of oil and commodity flows through the Strait, which handles approximately 20% of the world's traded oil. Despite these measures, many shipping companies remained cautious, primarily due to crew safety concerns given ongoing risks from drones, missiles, and sea mines in the area.