With the 20 February protection-and-indemnity policy renewal deadline looming, many owners have decided to move tonnage to new insurance providers as their clubs play hardball over pricing.
All 13 members of the International Group of P&I Clubs have been seeking increases in premium from their members to correct underwriting deficits and pay for an exceptional year of costly pooled claims.
For the first time, tense negotiations over premium increases have been held remotely due to the coronavirus travel restrictions, which added to the difficulty of this year’s renewal.
Tough time
American Club chief executive Joe Hughes, who has been involved in 43 P&I renewals, said this year had been particularly tough.
“Each renewal has its own characteristic and, from the rating point of view, this renewal has been one of the hardest for at least five years or more,” he said.
But some underwriters contacted by TradeWinds expressed disappointment with the increases achieved, indicating that they will be seeking further increases in the years ahead to balance the books.
In one of the major moves, Hong Kong owner Wah Kwong Maritime Transport has shifted some of its tonnage out of the Standard Club account and placed it with Norway’s Skuld. Wah Kwong did not respond to requests for comment.
Peter Livanos’ GasLog has also shuffled tonnage around. It is understood to have pulled LNG tonnage out of the UK P&I Club and consolidated it with its other P&I providers, Britannia and West of England. GasLog declined to comment for this story.
There also appears to have been movement in the Southern European market, where Steamship Mutual has been taking on a number of new accounts at renewal.
Far East names
Greece’s Technomar and Golden Union are understood to have relocated part of their fleets to Steamship Mutual. Technomar has moved some ships to Steamship Mutual and the UK P&I Club from the West of England.
Technomar was involved in a costly casualty with its 5,576-teu containership Tina I (built 2004) off Indonesia last November.
Golden Union is understood to have moved four ships out of the London P&I Club. The move is a particularly painful one for the Bilbrough-managed mutual as there had been a long-standing relationship with the Veniamis family, which controls Golden Union. Nikolaos Veniamis is on the members’ committee.
Also moving some tonnage out of the UK P&I Club is Russian member Fesco Transportation Group.
Some big-name Far Eastern companies are reported to be in the process of moving clubs. It is understood that Swire Bulk, which recently separated from China Navigation Co (CNC), is to switch some tonnage out of Standard Club, its main P&I provider.
However, Swire told TradeWinds it remains committed to the Standard Club.
Swire said: “CNC, and now Swire Bulk, decided to pursue a strategy of using two P&I clubs last year, given the size of its growing fleet. The majority of both Swire Bulk and CNC’s vessels are entered with Standard Club.”
In Japan, NYK Line is understood to have moved some ships out of the Japan P&I Club.
NYK is a founding member of the Tokyo-based mutual, which has been hit by three costly claims this year.
NYK told TradeWinds: “As renewal approaches, we have many talks with each of the clubs for better arrangement of coverage, and we did the same this year. A shift of some vessels generally occurs, but it is nothing more than that.”
