Shipowners Claims Bureau News

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.

Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. (SCB), the Managers of the American Club, has announced senior appointments to its management team in New York.  Dorothea Ioannou takes on the role of Deputy Chief Operating Officer (DCOO) with immediate effect, and Mary (Molly) McCafferty becomes Senior Vice President and Director of Claims for the Americas as from the beginning of September.

“Weathering the Storm” salutes heroes of the sea in turbulent timesThe American Club and Eagle Ocean Marine (EOM) have produced a video entitled ‘Weathering the Storm’ which salutes the service of seafarers in these turbulent times as they seek to protect themselves in their vital work, at sea and in port, against the ravages of COVID-19.The video can be accessed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVTBZ0v1w4Q“As seafarers labor in their essential role of enabling global trade…

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 American Club has released its latest loss prevention guidance, Bunkering – A Compendium, together with website access to a comprehensive approach to loss prevention initiatives demanded by new regulations and generally by supplying guidance on operations and management.The Compendium is intended to give guidance not only in respect of issues arising from the new MARPOL regulations coming into effect on January 1, 2020, but also in regard to best practice generally in the conduct of bunkering operations.Joseph E.M.

Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. (SCB), Managers of the American Club, has announced several senior appointments which have been made to enhance the capabilities of its global service teams.At the Club’s headquarters in New York, Margaret Lee has been appointed as Lead Counsel. With 20 years of experience in the industry, Lee is a New York-admitted attorney who worked in private practice before joining the Club’s management several years ago. Lee has particular expertise in occupational disease claims and, in addition to overseeing the wide – and diverse – range of legal matters which attend the operation of the Club and its Managers,…

Crowley Maritime appointed Parker Harrison to its leadership team as senior vice president of procurement and risk management, effective Jan. 1, 2019. Harrison, former VP of procurement, will continue to be based at the company’s headquarters in Jacksonville, and will report to Bill Pennella, vice chairman and executive vice president.In her new role Harrison will work across all of Crowley’s business units to strategically align risk management functions while continuing the company’s procurement transformation into a strategic center-led competency.

Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. (SCB), the Manager of the American P&I Club, has recently announced a series of appointments designed to service the Club’s growing membership and help fulfil longer-term goals of continued expansion. The American Club has grown its membership substantially over recent years, tonnage having increased by some 25 percent over the past 24 months, and these appointments are intended to consolidate the Club’s continuing service capabilities in the future.The…

American Hellenic Hull Insurance Company (AHHIC) has already provided cover for 1,000 vessels managed from Europe, the Americas and Asia, said said Vincent Solarino, Chairman of the Board of Directors of AHHIC and President and COO of Shipowners Claims Bureau, managers of the American Club. The company’s remarkable initial success that exceeds targets for first six months, underlines its ability to become a global player in the marine hull market as well as industry recognition of AHHIC’s backers and managers, he said. At the American Club we are very proud of the company and I am happy to say that American Hellenic is performing even better than we expected, he added. AHHIC gained its license as a Solvency-II compliant insurer from regulators in Cyprus on June 24th 2016.

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.

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…

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.

Conference organizers have announced the speaker lineup for the 21st annual Hellenic-American and Norwegian-American Chambers of Commerce conference, often called the New York Shipping Conference. Entitled “The Life of a Ship”, the conference will feature luminaries including Steinar Nerbovik of Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Ben Ognibene of Heidmar, Craig Stevenson Jr., Joseph Hughes of Shipowners Claims Bureau, Paal Johansen of DNV GL, and Angela Chao of Foremost Group . The event will be held on Wednesday, February 11 at the Waldorf-Astoria starting at 8:15 a.m. with conference registration and continental breakfast sponsored by DNB Bank ASA. The luncheon keynote speaker will be Sturla Henriksen, CEO of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association, organizers said.

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.

The American P&I Club has updated its advice to members on the handling of steel cargoes. It has done so in consequence of some recent cases where the absence of pre-loading surveys increased the cost of steel cargo claims on discharge. It first raised the problem in a March 2002 circular, making extensive recommendations so as to minimise the prospect of spurious steel cargo claims. In a new circular, Shipowners Claims Bureau, Inc. (the managers) state that since then members have for the most part followed the guidance and made progress in minimising and averting the risks…

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…

Acting Maritime Administrator, Paul “Chip” Jaenichen will close the “Safety at Sea” Seminar being hosted by North American Marine Environment Protection Association (NAMEPA) at the National Press Club from 2:30-6:00pm. NAMEPA’s seminar will join industry and governmental leaders as they discuss issues of the day surrounding Safety at Sea. The seminar is designed to highlight both best practices and opportunities for improvement. Immediately following the “Safety at Sea” seminar is the AMVER Awards Dinner where over 150 companies will be recognized for their participation in the United States Coast Guard’s (USCG) Automated Mutual-Assistance Vessel Rescue (AMVER) system.

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.

One of the most pressing problems for the bulk shipping industry is the safe carriage of nickel ore. The increasing demand for this commodity is fuelled by China’s thirst for nickel ore as it is the principal alloy component for stainless steel. Chinese nickel ore imports have spiraled from nearly 5m metric tons (mt) in 2006 to near 50m mt in 2011. The bulk of these imports come from Indonesia, with the Philippines now running very close behind. But this fast-expanding trade has been marred by the heavy price paid in terms of lives and vessels lost. In August, the 2012-built Trans Summer sank off Hong Kong, but all 21 crew were saved by rescue helicopters. All these vessels were carrying nickel ore from Indonesia to China.

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.…

A new addition to the existing catalogue of the American P&I Club’s e-learning modules covers compliance with the mandatory requirements of the IMO’s International Maritime Solid Bulk Cargoes (IMSBC) Code. Speaking in New York, Dr William Moore, senior vice president of Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc. (the club’s managers), said, “The aim of this timely initiative is to provide club members with relevant and useful training tools for safety and environmental protection compliance.