Lower benefit payments are ultimately what motivate the insurers.Since the federal government expected a large decline in claims, the maritime industry has been paying claims at grossly inflated rates for decades. Though the terms of its exchange may be viewed as a form of corporate welfare, these agreements give transportation businesses 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 corporations were covered by government insurance policies; in certain cases, the cost of the insurance was deducted from shipping profits.