Protection & Indemnity

Shipowners | www.shipownersclub.com

2016/17 financial year results

  • Owned tonnage increased by 3.3%
  • Premiums reduced by approximately -6.3%
  • Net incurred claims reduced by -5.7%
  • USD 2.8 million underwriting surplus Combined ratio, at 98.6%, almost unchanged between 2015 and 2016
  • 3.5% return on investments
  • Overall surplus USD 14.7 million
  • Assets and Free Reserves increased by 2.9% and 5.1% respectively

Combined ratio

Shipowners’ Club changed their financial year to the calendar year in 2015. The figures for 2015 in the summary table are therefore for the short period from 20 February 2015 to 31 December 2015. Extrapolating the 2015 year to a full calendar year.

Shipowners P&I Club recorded a combined ratio of 98.6% in 2016, recording an underwriting surplus for the seventh year in succession.

Consolidated Financial Year Summary (USD 000s)

2014/15 2015/16 2016/17
Income and Expenditure
Calls and Premiums 247,342 209,881 228,580
Reinsurance Premiums -36,243 -27,870 -27,527
Operating Expenses -54,168 -42,704 -49,164
Operating Income 156,931 139,307 151,889
Gross Paid Claims 325,223 139,226 194,674
Net Paid Claims 155,566 120,633 144,395
Net Change in Provision for Claims -10,073 15,427 4,692
Net Incurred Claims 145,493 136,060 149,087
Technical Surplus (Deficit) 11,438 3,247 2,802
Investment Income -10,020 -24,142 11,861
Overall Surplus for Year (Deficit) 1,418 -20,895 14,663
       
Balance Sheet
Net Assets 649,290 658,348 677,570
Net Outstanding Claims 349,017 378,970 383,829
Free Reserves 300,273 279,378 293,741
Entered tonnage (GT, millions) 2015 2016 2017
Owned / Mutual 24 25 25
Chartered / Fixed 0 0 0
Total 24 25 26
       
S&P Rating History 2015 2016 2017
  A- A- A
       
Average Expense Ratio (AER) 2015 2016 2017
Five years ending 20 February 20 21 22

Combined Ratio

Combined ratios provide a direct comparison of club underwriting performance. The combined ratio is essentially the net loss ratio for the club and is defined as follows:

Combined ratio =

(Net incurred claims + operating expenses)
(Premium – reinsurance costs)

  • A combined ratio of 100% represents an underwriting break-even position
  • Anything in excess of 100% would be an underwriting loss
  • A combined ratio less than 100% would represent an underwriting surplus.

Average Expense Ratio (AER)

Average Expense Ratios (AERs) were introduced in 1999 following pressure from the European Commission in an attempt to enable direct comparisons of operating costs between clubs within the International Group. The formula that all clubs are required to adhere to when calculating their AER figure is as follows:

The AER formula is the
five-year average of:

(Operating expenses x 100)
(Premium income + Investment income)

In principle the AER is a reasonable idea, but in reality it is only ever a very approximate guide to the relative operating costs of individual clubs. For example different membership profiles, disproportionately high levels of premium or investment, whether the club owns or rents their office space, how much the club spends on loss prevention, global office network, member portals etc all have an impact on the AER.