Brussels, 22/10/2001 (Agence Europe) - European ship-owners have asked the European Commission to be able to benefit from an insurance scheme similar to that of airline companies should their situation reach the same level of gravity, said Emanuele Grimaldi, President of the European Ship-Owners Association (ECSA) on Monday. Since the 11 September attacks, insurers have increased their "war" premiums on some twenty destinations including Israel, Pakistan and the Persian Gulf, as well as for countries "for which there is no justification" like Algeria, Angola, Liberia, Somalia, Sri Lanka and Egypt, he told the press. "There are certainly abuses", Mr. Grimaldi considered, stating that some of the destinations at risk had "increased by 10,000%". "In the framework of the dialogue between the shipping industry and insurers, ECSA has called on insurers not to impose unbearable and unacceptable conditions", a press release states. In a general manner, "prospects for growth were not very good before the attacks, notably for the oil sector, but these became very difficult for sectors like cruises and ferries", said Grimaldi. In its annual report, ECSA revealed that the fleet under the European ensign amounted to 6,900 vessels in April 2001, or 17.2% of the world fleet, but 40% if account is taken of European ship-owners flying the ensign of third countries. Th average age of European vessels was 12.3 years, against 13.8 in the world.