The insurers’ efforts are ultimately driven by lower benefit payments.For decades, the shipping industry has paid claims at grossly inflated rates in part because the federal government assumed claims would be so much smaller, Such arrangements ensure a steady flow of private insurance money to transport companies, but the conditions under which they are traded can be considered a form of corporate welfare. Today, insurance underwriters in the United States, Canada and Australia bid at the shipping rates dictated by the federal government. Some vessels were owned by shipping companies with government insurance policies for years, even decades, and insurance premiums were often paid directly from shipping profits.