Howden has launched a US trucking practice as it looks to build out its presence in one of the toughest casualty segments in the world's largest insurance market.
The new unit expands the broker’s specialty transportation & logistics vertical and is aimed at trucking and wider fleet operators across the country. It is designed to support clients with a coordinated approach to casualty risk, fleet safety, claims outcomes and total cost of risk.
Working alongside Howden’s broader transportation & logistics team, the practice brings together risk advisory and insurance placement with claims advocacy and practical risk support, including guidance on telematics and safety technology.
Thomas O’Donnell, practice head of transportation & logistics at Howden US, said: “Trucking companies are dealing with more volatility on every front. Claims, litigation, regulation and cost pressure," said Thomas O'Donnell, practice head of transportation & logistics at Howden US. "Our goal is simple: bring the right people, the right data, and the right solutions to the table to help clients protect their business and keep America moving. This is the right team to do just that.”
The launch comes against a backdrop of diverging trends in the US commercial market. Overall commercial insurance prices have been rising only modestly as property and some specialty lines soften on the back of improved reinsurance terms and additional capacity. In contrast, casualty underwriters continue to push for rate increases to keep up with elevated loss cost trends driven by social inflation and larger verdicts.
Commercial auto and trucking liability sit at the sharp end of that pressure. Industry data show a surge in “nuclear verdicts” in trucking litigation, with jury awards over $10 million becoming more common and pushing average claim severities higher. Consultants estimate that commercial auto liability loss costs have been growing at a high single- to double-digit pace annually for several years, outpacing rate increases and contributing to persistent underwriting losses for many carriers.
In response, some insurers have trimmed limits, raised attachment points or reduced their appetite for more volatile segments such as long-haul trucking, even as the US trucking industry itself generates hundreds of billions of dollars in annual revenue. For fleet operators, the result is a market where capacity is still available but often on tougher terms, with higher retentions and closer scrutiny of safety performance.
Howden is positioning its trucking practice as a response to that environment, with an emphasis on using data and safety technology to influence underwriter perceptions and loss outcomes rather than focusing only on premium levels.
The practice is expected to concentrate on integrating telematics, driver behavior analytics and camera technology into the risk narrative presented to insurers, as well as tightening claims handling and advocacy to help contain defense and settlement costs, which have been driven higher by litigation funding and aggressive plaintiff strategies.
The move reflects a broader shift in how brokers compete in structurally hard casualty lines. Differentiation is increasingly about the ability to demonstrate credible risk improvement and to structure programs - including higher deductibles, layered towers, captives or other alternative risk vehicles - that keep total cost of risk manageable for fleets under sustained pressure.
The trucking launch is also another marker of Howden’s rapid build-out in the United States. The London-based group formally launched its US retail operation in 2025 under Parrish’s leadership, having previously focused on US reinsurance and MGA platforms.
Since then it has added several hundred staff to Howden US and completed a series of transactions, including specialist acquisitions in areas such as transaction liability and cyber, as it seeks to challenge the largest global brokers in selected specialty niches.
At the group level, Howden now operates in more than 50 countries, employs tens of thousands of people and handles tens of billions of dollars in premium on behalf of clients. The firm continues to emphasize its employee-owned model and specialty-led strategy as points of differentiation in a crowded brokerage market.
The creation of a dedicated practice by a fast-growing global broker highlights both the scale of the opportunity and the severity of the challenges in the sector.
On one side, sustained claims inflation, tighter carrier appetites and a volatile freight environment are keeping pressure on insurance budgets and on access to capacity, particularly for larger fleets and long-haul operations. On the other, brokers with specialist trucking practices see room to add value by using data and safety investments to distinguish better-run fleets from the broader market, by re-engineering program structures to balance premium and retention, and by strengthening claims strategies to limit the long-term impact of nuclear verdicts on insurability.
Howden’s new US Trucking Practice signals that the broker expects fleets to continue seeking partners with deep sector knowledge and national reach as they navigate these conditions — and that, despite the headwinds, there is still room for growth in trucking for intermediaries that can help clients manage one of the most challenging casualty classes in the market.
