EuropeFinance and Insurance

Weak dry market causes “tough negotiations” for London P&I Club renewals 

London: The difficult trading conditions seen particularly in the dry cargo shipping market in the past year has led many shipowners to focus on reducing costs, including those for renewing P&I rates for 2015-16, the London P&I Club said today.

“This led to some tough negotiations, and it proved impossible to agree renewal in a few cases,” Ian Gooch, chief executive of the club’s management team, said in a statement today.

“The freight markets, especially in the dry bulk sector continued remained under pressure and the difficult trading conditions for many members did seem to be one of the important factors in the renewal – it’s an experience that other clubs and brokers have referred to,” Gooch told Splash.

In spite of this, the London P&I Club shipowners’ business grew to 700,000 gt this year, the club said, thanks to tonnage additions from new and existing members in countries such as China, Greece, Singapore, Turkey and the UK.

The club’s charterers’ entry also grew by over 3m gt during 2014/2015.

“Moreover, the increase in income earned by the club during the 2014 year, together with rate increases at renewal, means that premium levels continued to move in the right direction,” the club said.

The club said there were also a few instances where its underwriters took the decision not to offer terms to members. “These generally arose where there were operational issues or concerns, but there was no sign of any particular factor at play; the small number of cases had discrete features,” Gooch told Splash.

Holly Birkett

Holly is Splash's Online Editor and correspondent for the UK and Mediterranean. She has been a maritime journalist since 2010, and has written for and edited several trade publications. She is currently studying for membership of the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers. In 2013, Holly won the Seahorse Club's Social Media Journalist of the Year award. She is currently based in London.
Back to top button