The message from Swedish Club at its Q1 board meeting last week was “resilience in the face of volatility during an extraordinary year”.
At the meeting, held virtually from Gothenburg, Sweden, the Club reported finishing 2020 with an operating profit of $3m, free reserves at a record $231m, and confirmation of the Club’s A- ratings as stable by S&P Global Ratings and AM Best. The Club said that the year ended with most business areas “in balance”, with a strong investment return offsetting a total combined ratio of 123%. The Club said that this reflected a combination of unprecedented Pool claims and a premium inadequacy “that the whole sector is working to address”. It said that the CR of 123% was “an anomaly compared with the performance of previous years”.
The Swedish Club reported a successful renewals year, against “a background of unprecedented business disruption”. Owners’ P&I reached 56m gt – an all-time high and an increase of 6m gt – Combined owners’ and charterers’ entries reached 88m gt, also a record.
The Swedish Club Managing Director Lars Rhodin said that “2020 was a challenging year for P&I and moving forward, the price gap in the market needs to be addressed. We are now at the point that something must be done, and done now, in order to avoid a stronger reaction in the future.”