99% of Members renew and mutual tonnage forecast to be in excess of 100 million GT
Posted on: 21 February 2024
The West of England P&I Club (West) is pleased to announce a successful 2024 renewal across all business lines and expects a combined ratio of below 100%.
West has maintained its selective approach to new business. Strong organic growth from existing Members throughout 2023, combined with targeted new business development at the renewal, means the total Mutual tonnage of the Club will be in excess of 100 million GT, up from 96 million GT 12 months ago.
The Club has achieved strong and continued growth across other lines of the business, including Fixed, Charterers and Hull – which has enjoyed a very positive first underwriting year with many of the Clubs mutual Members securing capacity from this new facility which has been encouraging to see.
West’s renewal results demonstrate the continued support and commitment from Members, with a retention rate of 99% on renewing business for the second consecutive year. Net mutual premium, together with term changes, is also anticipated to be in line with the Clubs Board objectives.
Simon Parrott, Underwriting Director at West P&I commented: “We are pleased to have concluded another successful renewal, which builds on the strategy adopted in recent years to strengthen the Club’s capital base through a fair and transparent approach to underwriting. I would like to express my thanks to the membership for their continued loyalty and we look forward to working with our partners in 2024.”
Tom Bowsher, Group CEO at West P&I concluded: “We are extremely pleased with this year’s renewal result across all classes of business, which places the Club in a strong financial position going forward, supported by the expectation that the combined ratio will be below 100%. I am also delighted and encouraged by the development of our recently launched products, particularly West Hull, which, with the support of our colleagues at Nordic Marine Insurance, has enjoyed a very successful first underwriting year.
“Whilst the capital strength of the Club is a priority of our Board, the high levels of service and support to our membership is also a primary objective of West. To demonstrate our commitment to this, we continue to strengthen our teams globally as well as increase our investment and time in digitalisation to ensure the assistance and advice we provide evolves to the changing needs of our Members and ongoing market developments. The Club is looking forward to another successful Policy Year ahead.”
As part of its commitment to provide a broader range of products to its Members, West has focused on strengthening its core offering most recently launching Hull, War and Piracy Protection in 2023. The new products complement West’s existing covers – P&I, Defence, Charterers, Fixed Premium and Extended Covers – as well as the Club’s partner products for Delay (with Nordic Marine Insurance), Cyber Risks (with Astaara) and Legal and Claims consultancy (with Qwest).
