It is to say that in recent years there has been a certain amount of primary, as opposed to reinsurance or excess, P&I insurance is not popular with the traditional market. However, primary P&I insurance is not popular with the traditional market and has consequently never been successfully written. This attitude is borne out by the fact that some 90 per cent of the world’s gross registered tonnage obtains its P&I insurance cover through entry into one of the traditional P&I Clubs that make up the international group of P&I Clubs. It may be possible to explain the reluctance on the part of the traditional market underwriters to accept P&I risks by explaining that the traditional marine market operates a system of “fixed” or “once and for all” premiums, a system that is not ideally suited to the vagaries of P&I business. Under the scheme where single premiums are charged by underwriters, the underwriters themselves tend to err on the side of caution by setting premiums which may be unattractive, or alternatively, where the premium may be set at too low a rate, one catastrophic claims can lead to serious losses for the underwriter. Under this system of fixed premiums, underwriters are unable to go back to their assured and ask for more premium when claims are excessive. To overcome this very unpredictable situation for third-party liabilities the mutual clubs do have the possibility of setting how things develop and as necessary, should the catastrophe happen, spread the cost of that large claim throughout the memberships of the club by means of imposing supplementary calls. The second aspect which proves unattractive to the traditional market underwriters is their reluctance to become involved in long-drawn-out negotiations on claims that quite regularly lead to litigation. In the P&I Clubs the claims handling services of the clubs are a vital element in the service and coverage that they provide. Not only is this claims handling service a great attraction to the individual member who has an outstanding claim against him, but is a great beneficial service to the whole of the membership of the club as it contributes to reducing the size and number of claims that may be made on the club and can in turn lead to levels of calls being kept to a minimum. A third aspect of this situation is that the traditional marine market underwriters prefer to know as soon as conceivably possible the extent of Claims so that they can assess losses or indeed profits. However, this situation does not prevail in P&I insurance as inevitably the making of claims, the subsequent negotiation and possible settlement can take a considerable period of time and it is not unusual for a club to have wait three, four, five or more years before being in a position to say whether any individual club year has been successful or otherwise. The purpose of this study aims to analyse the present status and improvement plans of P&I insurance.

It is to say that in recent years there has been a certain amount of primary, as opposed to reinsurance or excess, P&I insurance is not popular with the traditional market. However, primary P&I insurance is not popular with the traditional market and has consequently never been successfully written. This attitude is borne out by the fact that some 90 per cent of the world’s gross registered tonnage obtains its P&I insurance cover through entry into one of the traditional P&I Clubs that make up the international group of P&I Clubs. It may be possible to explain the reluctance on the part of the traditional market underwriters to accept P&I risks by explaining that the traditional marine market operates a system of “fixed” or “once and for all” premiums, a system that is not ideally suited to the vagaries of P&I business. Under the scheme where single premiums are charged by underwriters, the underwriters themselves tend to err on the side of caution by setting premiums which may be unattractive, or alternatively, where the premium may be set at too low a rate, one catastrophic claims can lead to serious losses for the underwriter. Under this system of fixed premiums, underwriters are unable to go back to their assured and ask for more premium when claims are excessive. To overcome this very unpredictable situation for third-party liabilities the mutual clubs do have the possibility of setting how things develop and as necessary, should the catastrophe happen, spread the cost of that large claim throughout the memberships of the club by means of imposing supplementary calls. The second aspect which proves unattractive to the traditional market underwriters is their reluctance to become involved in long-drawn-out negotiations on claims that quite regularly lead to litigation. In the P&I Clubs the claims handling services of the clubs are a vital element in the service and coverage that they provide. Not only is this claims handling service a great attraction to the individual member who has an outstanding claim against him, but is a great beneficial service to the whole of the membership of the club as it contributes to reducing the size and number of claims that may be made on the club and can in turn lead to levels of calls being kept to a minimum. A third aspect of this situation is that the traditional marine market underwriters prefer to know as soon as conceivably possible the extent of Claims so that they can assess losses or indeed profits. However, this situation does not prevail in P&I insurance as inevitably the making of claims, the subsequent negotiation and possible settlement can take a considerable period of time and it is not unusual for a club to have wait three, four, five or more years before being in a position to say whether any individual club year has been successful or otherwise. The purpose of this study aims to analyse the present status and improvement plans of P&I insurance.

P&I insurance, Oil Pollution, Premium