The Lloyd’s List Podcast: What this year’s P&I renewals mean for shipping

TUESDAY this week marked P&I renewal day. That’s the name given to the annual hard deadline for the 90% of the world fleet by tonnage entered with International Group P&I clubs to renew their liability insurance for the following year. Historically, the date was considered the first on which Baltic ports were sufficiently ice free to be navigable. That looks rather quaint in these days of global warning. But 20 February is now hallowed by tradition, and doing things on 1 January like everybody else would just be boring. So this week, as is now tradition, we are dedicating the podcast to examining the fallout from the annual P&I renewals. In 2024, things have been rather quiet by previous standards, as it goes. No major fleets are thought to have changed hands in search of better insurance deals. The number of owners opting to do so has been in decline for some time. Clubs actively disincentivise such behaviour with a mechanism known as release calls. In plain English, that’s a penalty imposed for switching. Premium increases were modest. Clubs were officially looking for general or target increases in the 5% to 7.5% range. But those headline rate hikes should be seen as opening bids in negotiations with brokers. In practice, most deals were settled at about two-thirds of that. We recorded this podcast on the afternoon of Thursday 22nd February, by which point several clubs had made preliminary announcements about how well they have done. Five said that had gained tonnage. To name check them, they were Gard, NorthStandard, Skuld, West of England and Steamship Mutual. As subscribers know, Lloyd’s List offers readers easily the best marine insurance coverage available anywhere, and naturally we asked insurance editor David Osler to round up a cross-selection of the P&I people to discuss the latest developments. Speaking on this year’s P&I round up: Alex Vullo, to divisional director of Gallagher’s P&I practice Anna Vourgos, a director of Cyprus-based Aphentrica, William Beveridge, chief underwriting officer of the UK Club.