Marine P&I review December 2011

Clubs have set low General Increases but most underwriters will have been instructed, with an eye on the future, to achieve an increase very close to the Board’s target; there will, on the whole, be less room for flexibility and fewer favours extended.

This year, Members’ needs are both greater and more immediate. Prolonged depressed freight and charter rates, combined with escalating fixed costs, have ensured that even some of the larger and well-established shipping companies are now staring down the barrel of a gun and need to make real savings across the board in order to ensure survival. For Clubs to look for increases at this time, merely in anticipation of difficulties ahead, is, to say the least, insensitive.

It is of paramount importance that underwriters recognise the wider issues at work at this Renewal and do not lose sight of Members’ difficulties as they look to push through internal targets. Club membership is and must continue to be a reciprocal affair and the renewal process is not a one-way street.

 Download Marine P&I Review December 2011