UK P&I Club will not impose a general increase on Members for the 2019 policy year, although it added that Members with adverse loss records may anticipate adjustments to ratings or terms.
The release call has been set at 10% of mutual premium.
The Club warned that, with premium rates at historically low levels, it was exposed to an increase in larger claims. The combined ratio for the first six months of the policy year was 107%, compared with the Club’s target of 100%.
The Club said that, if this trend continued, then increases in premium would be necessary in the future for the Club to continue to meet its underwriting targets.
The standard deductible for 2019 policy year will remain unchanged at $12,000 per event. The Club may also propose higher than standard deductibles as part of the renewal terms for Members with adverse records.
Any change in the cost of the International Group reinsurance will be passed on to the mutual Members.
There is no supplementary premium estimated for 2016 policy year. The release call is set at 0%. There is no supplementary premium estimated for 2017 policy year. The release call is set at 5% There is no supplementary premium estimated for 2018 policy year. The release call is set at 5% of mutual premium.
UK Club said that its capital position remained strong, with a small surplus of $2m during the first half of the 2018 policy year. As of August 20th free reserves stood at $539m.
The Club said that this strong capital position enabled it to repay in full its $100m Hybrid Capital bond from 2007 in full in August 2018 (IMN September 26th, July 24th 2018).
The Club said that claim numbers continue to fall but a few large claims had increased the overall cost of notified claims in the first half of the policy year.
Meanwhile, UK Club announced that the Board had elected Nicholas Inglessis as their new Chairman, succeeding Alan Olivier. Inglessis has been a Director of Greece-based ship management company Samos Steamship since 1991. He has been a Director of the UK Club since 2005 and was elected Deputy Chairman in 2012. Olivier, who was at South African company Grindrod for more than 30 years, was elected Chairman of the Club in 2013.
As new Board Chairman, Inglessis will be supported in his role by the Deputy Chairmen Nicholas Schues, Paul Wogan and Randy Chen.
In addition, Mr U Schawohl of Hapag Lloyd AG, Hamburg; Mr N Smedegaard of DFDS A/S,Copenhagen; and Mr SN Vlassopoulos of Ionic Shipping (Management) Inc, Athens were elected to the Members’ Committee.