- P&I tonnage 25% greater than a year earlier, premium up by 17%
- FD&D premium grows by 20% over the year, tonnage by 26%
- Charterers’ portfolio poised to increase by 10% in 2023
- Eagle Ocean Marine strengthens its growing market position
- Despite a difficult business landscape, Club embraces future with optimism
NEW YORK, FEBRUARY 27, 2023: The American Club has reported encouraging year-on-year growth in premium and tonnage over the recent renewal period. Increases in both metrics were experienced across all of the Club’s insurance lines, strengthening its position for 2023 and beyond.
Premium income for the Club’s Class I (mutual P&I) entries was 17% greater than a year earlier, with concomitant tonnage growth of 25% over the period. Its Class II (mutual FD&D) portfolio also grew, while its Class III (charterers’) business is poised to increase by about 10% in 2023 by comparison with the previous twelve months.
Eagle Ocean Marine, the Club’s fixed premium facility, which serves the operators of smaller vessels in local and regional trades, also enjoyed a positive renewal season, strengthening its growing market position.
The Club’s Board had mandated an overall increase in expiring premium of 10% for the 2023 policy year, together with uplifts in certain deductibles. In the result, the cash rise on renewing business was just over 9%, with increases in deductibles over and above those generally prescribed, particularly through the application of higher annual aggregate deductibles in several sectors, providing an additional cash value of about 2% overall.
While the Club renewed about 95% of its expiring tonnage over the renewal itself, its renewing premium for 2023 was almost exactly the same as the expiring volume, implying an increase in the average rate per ton on the renewing portfolio of just under 8% by comparison with that of twelve months earlier.
Speaking in New York earlier today, Tom Hamilton, the Chief Underwriting Officer of SCB, Inc., the Managers of the American Club, said: “The American Club experienced a positive 2023 renewal season. Year-on-year tonnage entered for mutual P&I risks grew by 25% to just over 25 million gross tons with an increase in annualized premium to about $108 million. With similar increases in premium and tonnage entered for FD&D and charterers’ risks, as well as a solid portfolio under its Eagle Ocean Marine banner, the American Club commences the 2023 policy year with a premium income in excess of $135 million, an encouraging result providing a sound platform for further expansion over the months and years ahead.”
Dorothea Ioannou, the Chief Executive Officer of SCB, Inc., also commented on the Club’s recent results: “The growth of the Club’s premium and tonnage over the recent renewal reflects the loyalty and commitment of its Members and their intermediaries throughout the world. None of this is taken for granted, and will continue to be earned by a dedication to excellence in service provision, supported by a strengthening financial outlook for the Club. While business conditions remain challenging in many respects, the Club and its Managers are sure that the positive results of this renewal will enable further development of the Club’s market position in the future.”
Notes to Editors
The American Club
American Steamship Owners Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association, Inc. (the American Club) was established in New York in 1917. It is the only mutual Protection and Indemnity Club domiciled in the entire Americas and its headquarters are in New York, USA.
The American Club has been successful in recent years in building on its US heritage to create a truly international insurer with a global reach second-to-none in the industry. Day to day management of the American Club is provided by Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. also headquartered in New York.
The Club is able to provide local service for its members across all time zones, communicating in eleven languages, and has subsidiary offices located in London, Piraeus, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Houston, plus a worldwide network of correspondents.
The Club is a member of the International Group of P&I Clubs, a collective of thirteen mutuals which together provide Protection and Indemnity insurance for some 90% of all world shipping.
The American Club also operates a fixed premium facility, Eagle Ocean Marine (EOM), aimed at the operators of smaller vessels in local and regional trades. Since it commenced underwriting in 2011, EOM has enjoyed considerable success in building a growing footprint in this specialist market and generating strong profitability for the Club.
For more information, please visit the Club’s website http://www.american-club.com/
P&I Insurance
Protection and Indemnity insurance (commonly referred to as “P&I”) provides cover to shipowners and charterers against third-party liabilities encountered in their commercial operations; typical exposures include damage to cargo, pollution, death/injury or illness of passengers or crew or damage to docks and other installations.
Running in parallel with a ship’s hull and machinery cover, traditional P&I cover distinguishes itself from usual forms of marine insurance by being based on the not-for-profit principle of mutuality where Members of the Club are both the insurers and the assureds.