Emergency Contact Why claims data has always been king Home Latest updates News Why claims data has always been king 1 Feb 2019 Download Sign up for alerts The choice of insurers for P&I risks has significantly changed in recent years. 25 years ago, aside from limited liability cover that was available on the back of the H&M policy, there were very few choices outside the International Group of P&I Clubs (IG) system. Alternative facilities were established but the volatility associated with liability claims made it difficult to deliver consistent results. That same challenge remains true today and can only be overcome by a significant spread of risk. Back then it was also the case that other IG clubs weren’t overly keen on smaller vessels, focusing on ocean going blue water tonnage, and often referred such enquiries to the Shipowners’ Club. More recently, insurance markets have been awash with capital looking to generate a return. That capital has been deployed in support of a plethora of fixed premium P&I facilities. IG Clubs, striving for growth, have also taken a different view on smaller vessel risks and only very occasionally refer business our way. Despite these changes, the fundamentals of small vessel P&I haven’t changed. Small vessels still operate closer to navigational hazards, load and discharge cargo more often, undertake a much wider variety of operations and will therefore generate a different claims experience to those larger vessels operating further afield. However, operations do tend to be better defined and often conducted closer to the management base which means the risk can in many cases be better assessed and more accurately priced. Twenty-five years ago, the Club underwrote 11,475 vessels totalling just under 3.5M GT. Net premium income stood at US$ 40M and claims for the 1993 policy year were US$ 27.5M. The average size of an entered vessels was just over 300 GT, the achieved premium per ton was US$ 11.42, and the c