Graeme Orchard

Marine Insurance and Risk Management

Email: graeme@maritimeiq.net

Graeme joined MIQ in early 2023 and comes to this role with a tremendous amount of experience in maritime insurance and risk management. We have personally relied on Graeme, his expertise, and his judgment for decades to solve our most complicated insurance issues. We are lucky to have him aboard and are thrilled to be able to make his services available to MIQ clients – there are very few experts like Graeme in this field.

Graeme got his start working in, on and around sailboats from a very young age. He took a break from his studies, when he left university to take an extended South Pacific cruise after an ocean race to New Caledonia and continued to have a life time involvement in ocean racing representing New Zealand internationally both as a competitor and an administrator. His hands-on experience with yachts and yachting administration lead him into the sometimes arcane world of marine insurance. Graeme went on to have a lengthy international career in marine insurance including as national marine underwriter in the United States and Asia- Pacific, with additional executive positions in management. Ultimately Graeme has become recognised as an expert in the profession.

Graeme is frequently sought out to provide guidance on navigating the world of marine insurance, what’s not needed and how to most effectively arrange appropriate insurance coverage for the marine operator and maximize the benefit from insurance. He advises clients on managing client to broker and insurer relationships ensuring both the right amount and the right kind of coverage to manage maritime risks. His clients have ranged from individual yacht owners, to large maritime operations such as the biggest ferry system operating in the United States. He has served clients throughout New Zealand, Australia, United States and other regions of the globe.

For clients who find themselves in need of exercising their policies, Graeme can offer advice on negotiating and reaching the best, fair settlement. In legal cases, his expert testimony is widely respected and well-known in the field.

Graeme is an avid yachtsman as well as a man with a green thumb. When Graeme is not busy in the maritime insurance world, he can be found working his family avocado farm, growing the best avocados in New Zealand. Check out Orchard Avocados here: orchardsorchard.com