North P&I Club has finally completed the integration of the Sunderland Marine Insurance’s business into its parent company, North P&I Club.
Although the cities of Newcastle — the base of North P&I — and Sunderland are fierce historic, economic and sporting rivals, the two marine insurance providers are now fully joined up as one.
The formal transfer of business will be completed at the end of Tuesday and comes six years after North P&I and Sunderland Marine started to merge their interests.
Sunderland Marine’s specialist fishing and coastal vessels, owners’ fixed-premium P&I and aquaculture business is now fully integrated within North P&I.
North P&I chief executive Paul Jennings said: “After 138 years, Sunderland Marine remains a powerful and respected brand in the market. In North’s 160th year, we can say that we also know all about the value of lasting maritime relationships.”
North P&I has recently used Sunderland Marine as a base to diversify into the fixed-premium protection and indemnity business.
To celebrate the full integration, Sunderland Marine’s brand image has been given a brush up, complete with new website and smartphone app.
North P&I’s new hull and machinery business — North Hull — is also about to start taking business from 1 July, at the same time as the Sunderland Marine integration goes through.
Thya Kathiravel, chief underwriting officer at North P&I, said: “The completion of the integration process coincides with the seamless extension of our high-quality fixed-premium P&I product and service proposition to all clients.”
North P&I is one of the largest insurers in the International Group of P&I Clubs. It has 230m gross tonnes of shipowners' and charterers' P&I business on its books, representing 12% of the total International Group-covered tonnage.
