Investment income at Japan P&I Club increased in 2017 as a result of favourable Japanese stock market conditions, but net premiums written decreased, director general Hiroshi Sugiura has said in the company’s just-published annual report.
He said that the fall in NPW was because older, higher-rated, vessels had been replaced by lower-rated new buildings.
Total ordinary income decreased by ¥360m year on year to ¥19,730m. Total ordinary expenses increased by ¥660m to ¥18,060m as net claims paid increased, coupled with a foreign exchange loss due to a stronger yen.
The Association’s ordinary surplus decreased by ¥1,030m year on year to ¥1,670m. The net surplus amounted to ¥1,190m. The level of reserves climbed to ¥24,070m, up by ¥680m from last year.
At the end of the 2017 business year Japan Club had 3,238 Members and 4,281 entered vessels (2,327 for owners’ entries and 1,954 for Naiko Class entries), adding up to a total entered 93.75m gt (91.1m gt for owners’ entries and 2.5m gt for Naiko Class entries, roughly in line with last year). Chartered tonnage was down by 100,000 gt to 12.1m gt.
There were new entries of 249 vessels, comprising 10.7m gt for owners’ entries and 101 vessels comprising 200,000 gt for Naiko Class entries (Japanese coastal vessels). The new entries came mainly from existing Members.
Sugiura said that “in order to expand our business base further and ensure the stable management of the Association, we have launched a thorough review of our operation, organization, and insurance products”.
Claims:
Both the number of claims received & paid, and reserve funds within Japan Club’s retention (Paid & Reserve) have been decreasing in recent years. In the 2017 policy year about 3,900 claims were received for ocean-going and Naiko Class combined. The Paid & Reserve amounted to approximately $80m for ocean-going vessels and approximately ¥900m for Naiko Class. There was one Pool claim at Japan Club during the 2016 policy year, and there was also one exceeding $10m claim (i.e. shared with the Pool) during the 2017 policy year.
The pool claims performance of the International Group of P&I Clubs in the 2016 policy year was the best in recent years, and the contribution to the pool by the Association in that year reduced to $8.6m. In the 2017 policy year, although it did not see many pool claims, there were some claims exceeding $80m, and the year’s performance was similar to the costly 2013 policy year. The contribution to the pool by the Association for 2017 was about $10m due to the low pooling percentage applicable to Japan Club’s contributions.
The Association arranges its own reinsurance programmes for Naiko Class, charterers, FD&D and claims within the club retention of $10m. Over the past few years, including the 2017 policy year, very few new claims have been made on Japan Club’s own reinsurance.
Investments:
The investment return increased to 2.53%, 0.5% higher than that of the previous financial year.
The total value of investments held by the Association fell by ¥2,053m (3.3%) to ¥59,616m. The proportion of investments to total assets.
Entered Tonnage by Age (as of commencement of the 2018 policy year)
| 4 yrs or newer | 24.1% |
| 5 to 9 years | 39.0% |
| 10 to 14 years | 25.7% |
| 15 to 19 years | 5.9% |
| 20 years or older | 5.3% |
Entered Tonnage by Type (as of commencement of the 2018 policy year)
| Bulk carriers | 55.7% |
| Tankers | 13.9% |
| Container ships | 11.5% |
| Car carriers | 8.4% |
| LPG/LNG tankers | 6.3% |
| General cargo ships | 2.4% |
| Others | 1.8% |
Entered Tonnage by Ship’s Registry (as of commencement of the 2018 policy year)
| Panama | 55.1% |
| Japan | 16.9% |
| Marshall Islands | 7.6% |
| Liberia | 5.8% |
| Singapore | 5.1% |
| Bahamas | 2.0% |
| Korea | 1.5% |
| Hong Kong | 1.4% |
| Others | 4.6% |
https://www.piclub.or.jp/attachment/about_annual-report/2018_Annual%20Report.pdf