The newly merged NorthStandard has lost around 14m gt from its protection and indemnity book of business following the latest annual policy renewal, but executives say the drop is in line with expectations.
Before the 20 February merger, the North P&I Club and Standard Club had a combined P&I book of mutual shipowner business amounting to around 269m gt.
The merged NorthStandard has emerged from the renewal with 255m gt.
The loss has been attributed to shipowners with entries in both clubs — such as container ship giants MSC Mediterranean Shipping Company and AP Moller-Maersk — redistributing cover for some tonnage to maintain insurance with several providers after the merger.
“Primarily that change involved large shipowners, which had an entry with both North and Standard pre-merger, and have elected to rebalance part of their fleet,” said NorthStandard chief strategy officer Ed Davies. “We knew it was coming and budgeted for it in our business plans.
“The amount which moved was within the numbers we expected, so there are no real surprises there.”
Davies pointed out that those shipowners that have moved some tonnage out have remained members of NorthStandard.
“It is important to say that the majority of those shipowners were big supporters of the merger but in the majority of cases also felt they needed to rebalance,” he said.
“They are still with us and still have substantial entries with NorthStandard. It is not like they have moved the majority of their ships.”
Despite the loss of tonnage, Davies said NorthStandard’s premium levels would still probably increase following a 10% general increase applied by both clubs at renewal.
The club also has a wide range of non-mutual business lines that are growing, such as fixed premium covers, hull and machinery, and strike and delay.
Its figures answer the question of which club for now will be shipping’s largest P&I club for mutual shipowners’ cover.
Gard announced it had added 17m gt of tonnage to its mutual book at renewal, bringing its total portfolio to 277m gt compared with NorthStandard’s 255m gt.
