Meet our experts: Christin Ostendorf // Jewellers’ Block & Marine Cargo

Hello Christin, it's great that you're giving us some insights into your working life at Delvag today . What exactly do you do here?
Sure, I’ll be happy to do that. I joined Delvag and the marine insurance division in 2018. At Delvag, we do not only cover the captive risks of the Lufthansa Group in this area, but also external risks outside the Group worldwide. Our team specialises in areas such as Jewellers' Block, Cash in Transit, Marine Cargo and Spares - and we are now also starting out in the Fine Arts business (art insurance).

My personal areas of specialisation are Jewellers' Block and Marine Cargo, and I recently started providing support in the Cash in Transit area. And of course, there are further topics and tasks such as professional training or internal projects.

Interesting! Delvag is often only perceived as an aviation insurer or pure transport insurer. You mentioned Jewellers' Block, among other things – what’s that about?
In the Jewellers' Block segment, we insure jewellers, diamond dealers, diamond workshops and jewellery manufacturers against almost all the risks that business entails. I am the main point of contact here when it comes to product development, co-operation with new markets or special risk assessments. We cooperate with various brokers around the world in Europe, South America, Hong Kong and Israel. I am responsible for the Israeli market, where we established a branch many years ago. The cooperation with our partner Berzon is celebrating a milestone anniversary this year, just like Delvag (100 years) - it has now been in place for over 30 years. That's really impressive.

Incidentally, the risks can be very different within and between markets. While a diamond dealer sometimes must sew his diamonds into his business shirt when travelling in order to remain as inconspicuous as possible, a jeweller wants to present as many of his pieces of jewellery as possible to the public in shop windows. In addition, the South American market, for example, cannot be compared with Hong Kong, Israel or European markets. There tends to be more robberies in Brazil, whereas a customer in another market may not even realise at first that they have been robbed.

Another example: In Israel, many of our customers are based in a specially secured building complex. In Spain, on the other hand, we insure a small boutique in a tourist resort. Every market has its own characteristics. It is therefore important that every underwriter in the team knows their markets very well.

Your second focus is marine cargo - can you briefly explain this business to us as well?
Sure. The marine cargo sector is a completely different world compared to Jewellers' Block. It's mainly about international bulk transport by sea, such as grain, cotton or coffee beans. Our focus is mainly on means of transport, transport routes, political risks and the nature of goods. Most recently, the war on the Black Sea (editor's note: Russian war of aggression against Ukraine) and the activities of the Houthi rebels in the Red Sea have kept us very busy. It is important to maintain an overview of global conflicts and crises in order to be able to respond as quickly as possible with appropriate loss prevention measures. In the examples just described, this could mean different shipping routes or higher security levels on the ships.

How is your underwriting team organised, how does the collaboration work and how often are you actually on the road? Please take us into your everyday life...
I have two direct superiors, Sabine Rittmeyer and Rubén Alvarez, who share the team leadership. Our team consists of eight colleagues in total, and everyone has their own specialisms and strengths. Fortunately, we are very flexible when it comes to organisation of our daily work. We can work independently from home, but we can also go into the office at any time without having to adhere to a specific quota. However, this is only possible because we harmonise so well as a team, and everyone takes their area of responsibility seriously.

In the marine insurance sector, we are also very internationally oriented. In this respect, we also have several business trips a year, that's true. But that's also what makes this job so appealing to me.

A propos: we can now also work from other European countries for up to six weeks a year. In April, we therefore rented a private finca on Mallorca as a team to work together for a week. I couldn't have imagined such a ‘workation’ a few years ago, but it was a really great experience. We are already thinking about a new edition. (laughs)

I have rarely experienced such a good team spirit, and that motivates me immensely in my daily work. For me, a good sense of humour and reliability are the be-all and end-all in a team and I've been pretty lucky in that regard.

And you have also just successfully completed intensive further training to become a Transport Specialist (DVA) . Wasn't that a heavy workload?
Yes, it was definitely a double burden and meant high workload. But it was also very worthwhile, because I really learnt a lot as a result. The training to become a transport specialist takes around 20 months and includes 5 module exams and a final oral exam. I cursed a lot, especially during the learning phases, but my colleagues had my back and now it helps me a lot in my day-to-day work. Incidentally, two of my colleagues also opted for this training programme.

Fortunately, learning & development is generally very much encouraged at Delvag. In every annual review, care is taken to ensure that development goals are agreed with the employees. I hadn't finished my last exam when I was already asked in which direction I would like to develop afterwards. It gives me a good feeling that my performance is recognised and valued and that my managers are prepared to invest in potential.

Thank you very much for the interview.