Lower benefit payments are ultimately what motivate the insurers.Since the federal government anticipated a major decline in claims, the maritime industry has been paying claims at significantly inflated rates for decades. Although the terms of their exchange may be viewed as a form of corporate welfare, these agreements give transportation companies a consistent flow of private insurance payments. These days, bids are submitted at the federal government-set shipping rates by insurance underwriters in the US, Canada, and Australia. For years, if not decades, a large number of ships owned by shipping companies were covered by government insurance programs; in certain cases, the cost of the insurance was deducted from shipping profits.