Rates for both crude and products tankers fall by 8.11% and for bulk carriers, containerships and other dry cargo vessels by 6.05%.

But there is no reduction for cruiseships or passenger ferries reflecting the continued impact of the huge Costa Concordia claim.

The reduction is the first since the January 2012 and October 2011 loss of the Costa Concordia and Rena sent reinsurance rates soaring.

The P&I clubs separately charge shipowners a reinsurance tariff based on gross tonnage and ship type as shown in the table.

There has been ongoing pressure for the P&I clubs to differentiate between bulk carriers and containerships but the tariff retains the existing four ship categories for the year from 20 February 2015.

The favourable renewal reflects a good claims performance since the Costa Concordia and Rena incidents that occurred in the same P&I year as well as the continued softness of reinsurance markets.

TradeWinds last week predicted there would be about a 5% reduction in reinsurance costs so the reduction agreed is rather better than anticipated.

The reinsurance tariff accounts for a major slice of total P&I costs for owners of large tankers and passengerships.