The Joint Hull Committee (JHC) once ruled the London insurance market with a rod of iron and would sit in judgement, admonish and maybe even punish “errant” underwriters who failed to impose rate increases.
But its market policeman role went 20 years ago — and the result is that today’s JHC is a largely technical organisation that advises underwriters on a huge range of matters such as catalytic fines, liquefaction of bulk cargoes, ship condition surveys, crew competence, sanctions, classification, shipyard fires, ship inspections, salvage, general average and the transfer of piracy cover from the hull to war risks policy.
And, this week, there was a rare and possibly unique event in the more than 100-year history of the JHC — a press conference.
Underwriters led by JHC chairman Peter Townsend of Swiss Re Corporate Solutions followed up their regular Monday meeting in the Lloyd’s of London building with a briefing on initiatives and plans — notably the move to add bunker handling to the issues covered by condition surveys. The JHC abandoned efforts to control the pricing of hull insurance in the London market following European Union (EU) antitrust moves in the early 1990s.
Previously, there had been a graph and a “categories for renewal” list that, together, determined the minimum rate rise a shipowner would have to pay for a particular loss record.
So, today, pricing or restrictions on cover is something that the JHC has to steer clear of — but it can still be heavily involved in efforts to understand and mitigate the perils of the sea.
