The benefits of Club Membership

The Shipowners’ Club has been providing comprehensive insurance solutions for over 165 years. When Members join the Club, they do so in the knowledge that their liabilities are in safe hands. Our disciplined approach to underwriting, dynamic claims service and track record of financial stability, allows Members to operate with complete confidence. Whilst our personalised service, delivered by experts in the field, provides Members with a sense of care and community that is of the upmost importance to us.

As part of the Club's 2024 renewal campaign, this interactive guide details just some of the benefits of Club Membership, which demonstrate our knowledge, experience, and desire to always Ensure Peace of Mind.

A rated financial security from Standard & Poor's

The Club’s focused management of risk and capital strength resulted in Standard & Poor’s (S&P’s) reaffirming its A rating (stable outlook) in 2023. For many years the Club has been one of the only members of the International Group (IG) that has consistently maintained an A rating with a stable outlook, which reflects the view that the capital adequacy of the Club remains above S&P’s requirements for the ‘AAA’ level and can be expected to do so for at least the next two years. This is largely due to the wide spread of risks that the Club insures, providing stability in underwriting performance and stability in premiums.

As one of the 12 members of the IG providing Protection and Indemnity (P&I) cover to some 90% of the world’s ocean going ships, the Shipowners’ Club occupies a unique position as it maintains a leading position in its focus on providing P&I insurance for smaller and specialist vessels. This niche market provides the Club with a resilient and successful position within the P&I insurance market which is underpinned by sector expertise and sound intermediary relationships. Receiving an A rating reflects S&P’s expectation that the Club will maintain its market share and will continue to benefit from the competitive advantage that comes with being a member of the IG.

What’s more, the Club has demonstrated its ability to sustain high Member retention and to continue to achieve a breakeven underwriting result that compares favourably against other P&I clubs. For example, due to strong underwriting performance in recent years, the Club’s five-year average combined ratio stands at 100%, which reflects our ability to provide insurance ‘at cost’.

One of the few insurers to automatically discount P&I premium accordingly, recognising the overlap between P&I Insurance and Crew Personal Accident Cover.

The self-service broker portal, P&I Online.

In 2022, the Shipowners’ Club released P&I Online, a self-service portal which provides an effective, on demand service for our Members’ brokers. Acting as a one stop shop for brokers’ evolving needs, the portal provides 24/7 access to crucial information and documentation. Wherever the broker may be and at whatever time, they are able to view and download key information at their convenience through P&I Online. Throughout 2023 the portal has gone from strength to strength, with 340 brokers and over 1,000 broker contacts respectively signed up.

Within the portal, brokers have access to:

Broker statements
Loss ratio and claims summaries
Trading Certificates
Open quotes
Member, vessel, and policy details
Renewals summary (with the ability for brokers to bind renewals available on request)
Terms and conditions
Contact details

The Club recognises the ever-growing demands on brokers, and its ambition has always been to provide the highest levels of service through transparency and accessibility. Ongoing investment in system solutions to deliver against this goal means that there are more portal developments and exciting updates to come.

Third-party recoveries are pursued by the Club wherever it is possible and reasonable by utilising its substantial in-house legal claims experience.

A stated policy of zero additional calls and zero release calls (premiums we quote are inclusive of reinsurance costs).

The release call system is applied across most International Group (IG) clubs. The majority of IG clubs charge release calls in the event that a Member wishes to leave and obtain cover elsewhere. These release calls are designed to cover the risk that an unbudgeted call is made for an ‘open’ year after the Member has left. This represents a further cost for Members, making it more difficult for them to forecast their cost of insurance cover. It also makes it harder for Members to change where they purchase their P&I cover, should they decide to move to an alternative club within the IG.

The Shipowners’ Club is one of the only IG clubs that has a policy of no release calls for its Members and has long maintained that this provides fairness to Members. Instead, the Club’s strategy is to retain its Membership through a focus on the quality of underwriting, fairness in claims handling and value-added services – providing value for money rather than tying in its Members financially.

Correspondents’ services are paid for by the Club in order to protect the interest of its Members.

A history of high Membership retention levels.

For over five consecutive years, the Club has reported a Membership retention rate of greater than 98%. Most recently, at the end of the February 2023 renewal period, the Club recorded a retention rate of 99%. These numbers are consistent with Standard & Poor’s review of the Club and their expectation that retention levels will remain in the high 90% range over the next couple of years, despite ongoing pressures in the global economy and geopolitical tensions.

The Club’s reinsurance program allows for relatively low risk retention, whilst the diversity of the Shipowners’ Club provides earnings stability which is reflected in its sound performance over the past few years when heightened volatility was observed for many P&I peers.

Moreover, the Club places fundamental focus on providing the highest levels of service across the world with its overseas branches, including the offices in Singapore and London which are fully manned in terms of underwriting, claims and loss prevention. The Club is proud to nurture key broker relationships built on honesty and integrity through its understanding of owner specific risks, and its core ambition to be the best at what it does. The Club continues to prioritise helping its Members mitigate the ever-evolving risks that they face, through loss prevention advice, innovative insurance solutions, maintaining underwriting discipline and offering a supportive approach to claims. These aims are supported by findings in a recent survey whereby the Club’s brokers rated the Club’s ability to build strong relationships with them and their clients, the Club’s Members, at 89%. This was deemed one of their most satisfied areas of the Club’s performance.

Plain language policies are available as alternatives to traditional Rules P&I cover for certain vessel types, and these are provided on a fixed premium basis, which means there are no supplementary calls. Members will know exactly what they will be paying at the start of each year.

One of the few clubs who do not universally apply deductibles to claims fees.

When it comes to claims, the Club offers its Members a first-class service alongside significant financial benefits. The Club pays for the cost of Correspondents’ services in protecting the interests of its Members across the globe and it’s one of the few International Group (IG) clubs who does not universally apply deductibles to claims fees.

In the Club’s recent broker survey, the Club was recognised for having a great attitude towards the payment of its Members’ claims as well as a great speed of response. Both of which featured in the survey’s top five scorers of performance.

10.

The Shipowners’ Club is a mutual P&I insurer that is managed by a wholly owned subsidiary of the Club, any surplus the Club makes belongs to its Members.

11.

A history of applying the lowest General Increases of all the P&I clubs.

For the past 20 years, the Club’s General Increase (GI) record has been one of the best in the International Group (IG), consistently providing the most stable and predictable cost of P&I cover. The Club only ever asks Members for what it needs and whilst it remains committed to one of its strategic goals of steady growth, its underwriting discipline is never compromised.

The Club is proud to state it has not asked for higher than a 5% increase in the past ten years, and whilst a 5% increase has been applied for the 2024/2025 policy year, due to the impact of inflation and the cost of claims, the Club’s Board resolved that no across the board increase in deductibles would be applied. The Club remains in an excellent position, despite no GI having been applied for 2023, and it remains committed to doing the right thing by its Membership and their brokers.

12.

The Club has a low volatility of combined ratios. This demonstrates the Club's strong underwriting performance and reflects its ability to provide insurance 'at cost'.

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