Another spectacular profit has been reported by the Steamship Mutual Underwriting Association with a small investment loss making barely a dent in a strong underwriting performance.
The Steamship Mutual protection-and-indemnity club is reporting a $64.1m surplus for the year to the February renewal that lifts its free reserve above $440m.
The result is almost as good as the previous year when Steamship Mutual reported a $75m best in market surplus.
The good news for Steamship Mutual members is that the club’s shipowner directors have agreed to consider a possible return of premium when they meet in October.
The club appears to be on a roll with a combined ratio of 76.2% indicating a very favourable underwriting performance.
Steamship Mutual appears to have largely escaped the investment portfolio hits that have dragged down the bottom line result of a number of rival clubs.
There was an investment loss of just $1.8m, equivalent to a negative return of 0.2%, although this excludes adverse currency movements.
The club reports that overall claims last year, including those incurred but not reported were 11.4% above the previous year at $221m. The number of larger claims was 14% down but the average cost was significantly higher.
But the development of prior year claims proved favourable with settlements coming out below earlier estimates.
Steamship Mutual had three claims sufficiently large to be pooled with other International Group clubs last year.
These relate to the elderly, 31,500-gt Jones Act ro-ro El Faro (built 1975), which sank with the loss of 33 lives, and two much less significant incidents.
These involved the 106,000-dwt tanker Pacific Bridge (built 2002), which damaged a tidal station at Shanghai and the 4,200-hp tug Peter F Gellatly (built 2008), which struck a New Jersey terminal, causing some pollution.
