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Marine insurance industry gathers in Newcastle

Experts from the marine insurance industry gathered in Newcastle last week for their annual meeting away from their London base. The International Group of P&I Clubs Managers’ Meeting took place over three days with a full conference programme, a welcome dinner at The Baltic and a formal evening reception at St James’ Park.

Newcastle-headquartered global marine insurer North P&I Club hosted the event, where members met to discuss and debate the work of the Group, matters of policy and wider issues affecting the global shipping industry, such as Brexit.

The Group consists of the thirteen principal underwriting Clubs in the world which between them provide liability cover (protection and indemnity) for approximately 90 per cent of the world’s ocean-going tonnage and over 95 per cent of ocean-going tankers.

The Clubs cover a wide range of liabilities, including loss of life and personal injury to crew, passengers and damage or loss of cargo.


Paul Jennings, chief executive of North P&I, said: “Everyone at North was delighted to welcome the representatives of the P&I Clubs from around the world to Newcastle over the last few days. The annual meeting is an important date in the calendar for the marine insurance industry, allowing members to feed back from sub-committees and working groups that are considering a range of issues, such as pollution, maritime security, personal injury and salvage.

“The meetings were very productive and we were able to showcase Newcastle as a city – which was even more vibrant than usual with the preparations for the Great Exhibition of the North well underway.”

North P&I employs 300 people at its Quayside office, but also has offices in China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), Greece, Japan and Singapore.

The company recently announced its annual results, confirming a 4.6% increase in free reserves to US$451 million (approximately £336 million), a 2.6% (5 million Gross Tonnage – GT) rise in total entered tonnage to 195 million GT, and a combined ratio of 104% for the year ended 20 February 2018, along with a stable 99% member retention rate.