North of England P&I Association

The North of England Protecting and Indemnity Association, (North P&I Club), is a marine mutual liability insurer in the United Kingdom

North P&I Club provides protecting and indemnity (P&I), freight demurrage and defence (FD&D), war risks and ancillary insurance cover and loss prevention services to around 131 million GT of owned tonnage and 54 million GT of chartered tonnage, with around 5000 ships worldwide. Through its guaranteed subsidiary Sunderland Marine, North is also an insurer of fishing vessels, small craft and aquaculture risks.

Founded in 1860, North P&I Clubis based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK with regional offices in Hong Kong, Piraeus, Singapore and Tokyo and Sunderland Marine offices worldwide. It employs almost 400 people worldwide.

North P&I Club is a member of the International Group of P&I Clubs, with 11.5% of the group’s owned tonnage.[1]

History

North P&I Club started with the North of England Iron Steam Ship Protecting Association in Newcastle upon Tyne. It had formed from from a series of amalgamations in 1860.[2] It was one of the world’s first mutual associations providing personal injury and collision liability cover for steamships. In 1885 North P&I Club added cargo indemnity cover by merging with the local Steam Ship Owners’ Mutual and, by 1914, had become the leading P&I club in Britain.

North P&I Club lost business after World War II with the decline of the British merchant navy. A gradual revival began in the 1960s with the appointment of managers Alec Murray and Len Harrison. North P&I Club became a member of the London Group of protecting and indemnity (P&I) clubs in 1969, which later became the International Group. North P&I Club opened branch offices in Hong Kong in 1995, Greece in 2000, Singapore in 2007 and Japan in 2012.

The tradition of two managing directors, which first started in 1885, continued with the appointment of the joint management team of Peter Crichton and Rodney Eccleston in 1988 and by their successors Alan Wilson and Paul Jennings in 2009.

Corporate development

Much of North P&I Club growth since the 1960s has been due to mergers and acquisitions of smaller clubs. In 1967 North P&I Club absorbed the neighbouring Neptune P&I club, bringing a number of Irish and Yugoslav vessels. On 20 February 1998 it merged with the Newcastle club, adding some 5 million GT of shipping and 30 staff. Two years later North P&I Club absorbed the business of the Liverpool and London club, adding another 5 million GT.

In 2000 North P&I Club also established North Insurance Management Limited (NIML), a wholly owned management subsidiary. On 28 February 2014 North P&I Club acquired Sunderland Marine Mutual Insurance Company Limited,[3] a leading insurer of fishing vessels, small craft and aquaculture risks, with over 29,000 policies in 50 countries and over 100 staff.

Sunderland Marine now operates as a guaranteed subsidiary of North P&I Club, with regional offices in Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa and North America (where it trades as Harlock Murray).

Products and services

P&I

North P&I Club's primary business is providing P&I cover to shipowners and charterers worldwide. The insurance is comprehensive and includes cover for third party legal liabilities in respect of:

  • People claims
  • Collisions
  • Damage to fixed and floating objects
  • Pollution
  • Wreck removal
  • Cargo claims
  • Fines or other penalties.

North P&I Club operates comprehensive pre-employment medical schemes in the Philippines and Ukraine. It has also developed a ‘First Call’ service for crew landed and requiring treatment in the US, and a post-repatriation medical scheme specifically for Filipino crewmembers.

FD&D

North P&I Club provides freight, demurrage and defence insurance (FD&D) that protects members’ interests and assets by supporting them to recover any proper claims for uninsured losses and/or to defend and resist any actions improperly brought against them, that fall within the remit of the club's rules.

It covers legal costs and expenses properly incurred in all types of dispute falling outside the scope of P&I, hull and machinery, loss of hire and time charterers’ liability for damage to hull insurances. Most of the disputes referred to the FD&D team are charter party disputes, but it also handles a large number of queries and claims concerning:

  • Bills of lading
  • Guarantees and letters of indemnity
  • Sale and purchase contracts
  • Newbuilding contracts
  • Bunker (and other) suppliers
  • Stevedores
  • Underwriters
  • Crew
  • Other matters connected to contracts of affreightment and carriage.

War risks

North P&I Club's war risks class provides cover for losses caused by war or terrorism in respect of physical loss or damage to the entered ship, P&I liabilities and losses incurred as a consequence of an entered ship being blocked or trapped in an area of conflict.

Ancillary cover

North P&I Clubprovides bespoke additional cover for owners, charterers and non-vessel-owning common carriers for operations which go outside standard P&I risks or which involve specialised marine operations.

  • Cargo risks - ship owner's liabilities (SOL), contractual deviations, ad valorem bills of lading, mis-delivery under bills of lading, rare and valuable cargo, non-poolable paperless trading, cargo owner's liabilities, and extended through-transport cover for cargo.
  • People risks - crew familiarization and newbuilding supervisors.
  • Contractual liabilities - excess contractual cover and North America clean-up.
  • Commercial risks - maritime lien for charterers' debts, maritime lien for second-hand ships, ship seizure, charterer's loss of use, balance sheet protection in fluctuating chartering markets, and balance sheet protection for owners with newbuildings on order.
  • Specialist risks - offshore oil and gas exploration and productions operations, specialist operations, dredging, pile-driving, cable-laying, non-poolable towage, divers, salvage, and heavy-lift operations.

Loss prevention

North P&I Club's loss prevention service provides Members with information upon which they can base their own loss prevention and safety programmes. It includes practical loss prevention guides, briefings and other publications produced specifically for members, together with topical information, training and other loss prevention tools.

References
  1. Mulrenan, J (2015) UK and North tie for second spot on P&I tonnage league, Tradewinds, 27 February 2015, http://www.tradewindsnews.com/weekly/355044/uk-and-north-tie-for-second-spot-in-pandi-tonnage-league
  2. Watson, N (2009) Celebrating 150 years of the North of England Protecting and Indemnity Association, North of England P&I Association, UK, http://www.nepia.com/media/136569/150Book.pdf
  3. Mulrenan J (2014) Northern clubs merge, Tradewinds, 3 March 2014, http://www.tradewindsnews.com/finance/333424/northern-clubs-merge
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