Joe Hughes News

The North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA) has announced the winners of the Marine Environment Protection Awards for 2023.Winners include MSC Cruises for Sustainability, Tote Services for the Industry Award, Captain Bridget Cooney as an Individual, Dr. Jason Zuidema for Seafarers, New York Harbor Middle School led by example this year for Maritime Academies, Port XChange for Innovation, Maritime Blue in the Non-Profit category, and NOAA’s OR&R for Government.The Awards will be presented at NAMEPA’s Annual Marine Environment Protection Conference…

After 27 years’ service as Chief Executive Officer of Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. (SCB), the Managers of the American P&I Club, Joe Hughes will stand down from that role on August 1, 2022. Dorothea Ioannou, currently Deputy Chief Operating Officer of SCB, will succeed Hughes as CEO from that date, making history as the first woman to ascend to the top executive position of an International Group P&I club in the 167 year history of the marine mutuals.At the same time, Vince Solarino will step down as Chief Operating Officer of SCB, Inc.

Boriana Farrar is a familiar face in maritime circles, the Vice President and Counsel and a Senior Claims Executive and Business Development Director for the Americas at the Ship Owners Claims Bureau, Inc. managers of the American P&I Club. We met with her in her NYC office to discuss her path from her native Bulgaria to a top maritime professional position.When Boriana Farrar moved from her native Bulgaria to the United States in 2001, she did so to be close to family, her mother and her sister who had already established a life in the U.S., some 5,000 miles from her homeland.

The subchapter M towboat rules, safety management systems, and an emerging culture shift on the inland waterways brings with it a fresh look at how to manage risk. Is it time for P&I clubs to return to brown water? And should inland operators welcome them home?A mass exodus from the inland marine sector by P&I clubs in the mid-1990’s was precipitated by many things. Today, these very same vessels have been put under the subchapter M regime, and most are adapting SMS as a culture in the process. Moreover, and without a doubt, the environmental record of this sector has improved 99% since the 1970’s. As all of that unfolds, the P&I clubs have begun to look at this sector more closely and…

The North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA) announced that Clay Maitland will receive the organization’s Lifetime Achievement Award at an awards dinner in New York on October 26. Maitland, who is a Managing Partner of International Registries, Inc (Marshall Islands Ship Registry), is being recognized for his many industry accomplishments including being a NAMEPA co-founder. “Clay is one of the finest examples in our industry of a successful businessman who expends nearly as much energy on philanthropy,” said NAMEPA Chairman Joe Hughes. Maitland has worked in the shipping industry since graduation from law school in 1968. He was employed by International Registries, Inc.

The American P&I Club was founded in New York nearly a century ago. To celebrate its first 100 years, a book entitled The American Club: A Centennial History has just been published. The book tells the story of the Club across ten decades of maritime and marine insurance history both within the United States and across the world. Its author is Richard Blodgett, a former Wall Street Journal reporter whose previous credits include histories of the New York Stock Exchange, Kohler and Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. The American Club was founded in February, 1917.

The American Club reported solid progress during 2015 at the annual meeting of its members held in New York yesterday. Despite a challenging economic climate, the Club’s business developed respectably, and 2016 had started on a positive note. The Club’s tonnage and revenue experienced some attenuation in 2015 as global trade slowed and freight markets continued to struggle. Following the 2016 renewal, year-on-year tonnage entered for P&I and FD&D risks was stable at about 14 million GT for the former and 9 million GT for the latter class of business…

The 23rd Annual International Maritime Hall of Fame reception and awards dinner took place yesterday evening in New York where five individuals were honored in front of more than 350 of their colleagues from the international maritime transportation industry. The Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey founded the Annual International Maritime Hall of Fame in 1993 to recognize maritime visionaries who, through excellence in their company, organization or services, best exemplify the qualities of futuristic thinking that guides the maritime industry.

Rising average temperatures are melting ice; the call goes out for heavy fuel oil to be regulated in Arctic. The Arctic is thawing even faster than lawmakers can formulate new rules to prevent the environmental threat of heavy fuel oil pollution from ships plying an increasingly popular trade route. Average Arctic temperatures are rising twice as fast as elsewhere in the world and the polar ice cap's permanent cover is shrinking at a rate of around 10 percent per decade. By the end of this century, summers in the Arctic could be free of ice. As the ice melts, traffic of ships carrying cargoes of gas, coal and diesel through the region has increased. Russia, in particular, is keen to expand shipping through the Arctic given its rich natural resources and efforts to cut costs.

At its meeting in New York on November 20, the American Club’s board resolved to levy a general premium increase of 2.5 percent for P&I cover, but no increase in the cost of FD and D for the 2016 policy year. The club’s board also reviewed release call requirements for open policy years, reducing the margins for 2013 and 2014, and undertaking to revisit the 2015 figure in the first half of 2016. In reaching these decisions, the board took account of the club’s recent performance against a background of the overall economic climate…

Eagle Ocean Marine (EOM), the specialist fixed premium P&I and FD&D (Freight, Demurrage and Defense) facility underwritten by the American Club, has reported a solid fourth year of operations, and a strong start to its fifth year of activity, following the successful renewal of its quota-share and excess of loss reinsurances with Lloyd’s underwriters as of July 1, 2015. Over the past year, tonnage insured by Eagle Ocean Marine grew by nearly 20 percent over the figure for the previous twelve months, on a premium income of over $6 million.

The American Club reported solid progress during 2014 at the annual meeting of its members held in New York today. Despite a challenging economic climate, the club’s business had developed favorably, and 2015 had started on a positive note. Tonnage and revenue grew strongly at the outset of 2014, but faded slightly later in the year as freight markets struggled. However, premium pricing remained firm, despite the enduring effect of “churn” as older, higher-rated vessels continued to be replaced by younger, lower-rated ships.

Katherine Wang, who is well known in Asian P&I circles, has joined the American Club as assistant vice president and marketing manager for Greater China and Northern Asia. In the first instance she will be stationed in the Hong Kong office of the club's managers, Shipowners Claims Bureau, and thereafter will be deployed to Dalian in Northern China - where in fact she graduated from Dalian Maritime University, obtaining her Bachelor’s Degree in International Shipping Transportation. Ms Wang joins SCB from another international group P&I club, where she was employed as an underwriter. Prior to that, she worked at China Shipping (Hong Kong) Marine Co. Ltd. in its chartering department, specialising in the dry bulk sector.

While Posidonia is well regarded for its exhibition, it is famous for its parties. The American Club held its traditional party on the evening of Thursday, May 29, to mark the start of Posidonia week, with more than 600 guests from the club’s expanding Greek membership, as well as club directors and representatives from the Greek maritime industry, attended a buffet reception on the rooftop of the Royal Olympic Hotel in central Athens. The occasion proved to be an ideal opportunity for the club’s leading underwriter…

The American Club held its traditional party on the evening of Thursday, May 29 to mark the start of Posidonia week. More than 600 guests from the club’s expanding Greek membership, as well as club directors and representatives from the Greek maritime industry, attended a buffet reception on the rooftop of the Royal Olympic Hotel in central Athens. The event was also attended by Miltiades Varvitsiotis, the Greek Minister of Shipping and the Aegean, together with senior diplomats from the U.S. Embassy to Greece.

The American Club, the only mutual protection and indemnity insurer domiciled in the Americas, has  revealed very positive overall results for the February 20 renewal season. Tonnage entered for owners’ P&I risks increased by over 11% year-on-year as at February 20, while that entered for defence risks grew by over 30%. There was an overall premium increase of slightly under 8% for P&I on renewing tonnage, and nearly 6% for the club’s defence class. However, when the monetary value of deductible increases and other adjustments to insurance conditions are taken into account, the target of a 10% increase in premium set by the club’s board for 2014 was very broadly achieved, notwithstanding a continuation of the difficult commercial environment.

The American P&I Club is reorganizing its underwriting and business development functions into a regionalized structure comprising the Americas, EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), South and Southeast Asia, and Greater China and North Asia. “The more focused application of resources created by this new structure is intended further to improve service delivery to members, brokers and the club’s other business associates,” Joe Hughes, chairman and ceo of managers Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc.…

Under Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services’ latest review, the American P&I Club’s financial strength rating has been raised a full notch from BB+ to BBB-, an investment grade, with a stable outlook. This action follows a comprehensive review of the club’s current and prospective circumstances by reference to S&P’s new criteria for the rating of insurance companies which it has now extended to 14 marine mutual insurers. In their rationale for increasing the club’s rating to an investment grade…

Members of the American P&I Club have elected the first director to come from The People’s Republic of China (PRC). At the annual meeting in New York, Lianyu Zhu of CCCC International Shipping Corporation, Tianjin, was elected to the board for the forthcoming year. Mr. Zhu’s company is a subsidiary of China Communications Construction Company, a major state-owned enterprise (SOE) which is, among other things, the largest port construction and design company in the PRC. The election highlights the American Club’s continuing growth in China in particular and Asia in general, supported by its Shanghai office which it opened in 2007. Servet Yardimci of the Yardimci Group, Istanbul, retired from the board, having been first elected a director in 2000. At the following board meeting, J.

The American Club reported solid progress on several fronts at the annual meeting of its members held in New York. Despite many challenges, including those intrinsic in a struggling maritime sector hampered by anemic growth in global trade, the club made progress in many areas during 2012 and has started 2013 on a positive note. Income came under pressure during the first half of 2012 as the retirement of older, higher-rated vessels and their replacement by newer, lower-rated ships, caused a reduction both in rates per ton and overall revenue by comparison with the position 12 months earlier. While retained claims developed within expectations…

Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc., American P&I Club managers, make appointments in underwriting and survey, & technical departments. Colin Snell has been recruited to SCB’s underwriting department to support the club’s European and North American business. An English lawyer by training, Colin has extensive experience in P&I, having earlier occupied senior positions with other major International Group P&I Clubs in London and New York. As vice president, working closely with Stuart Todd and his colleagues…

John Poulson Rejoins Management Team. Well-known surveyor John Poulson, a highly-experienced former mariner, is rejoining the American P&I Club’s management team on February 1 as vice president, principal surveyor and head of the survey and technical department. He worked with the club’s managers for several years in the middle of the last decade before moving to GL Noble Denton (as it is now), New York, where he had oversight and responsibility for that company’s operations throughout the Americas.

The American Club is seeking a 5% increase in all classes of premium (mutual and fixed-premium) for both P&I and FD&D for the 2012 policy year that starts on February 20 next. This was decided by the directors when they met in New York. There is no expectation of any unbudgeted supplementary calls for any open year. However, the directors ordered the levying of the 25% supplementary call, as originally forecast, for 2011, for both mutual P&I (Class I) and FD&D (Class II) entries. The release call for the year will remain at 25% over and above the supplementary call. Last week, it was announced that S&P had raised its counterparty credit and financial strength rating on the American Club a full notch to BB+, with a stable outlook, from BB.