P&I insurance provider, The Shipowners’ Club, continues to expand business in the Asia-Pacific region by investing in its Singapore branch.
Growth in demand for its liability insurance cover for small and specialist vessels of all types is cited as a major imperative behind Shipowners’ moves to expand its team of underwriters and claims handlers at its Singapore branch. Improved customer service to members and their brokers based on local, time-zone-based expertise is another goal of the expansion, as is the development of new products and simplification of existing cover.
Robert Hunt will moving from the London branch to Singapore in early-August. Hunt, who has worked in the P&I market for many years, firstly as a broker and for the last seven years at Shipowners as an underwriter, has had responsibility for undertaking the Club’s Australasian and Far Eastern Members for some years and will be better positioned geographically to service these accounts from the Club’s Asian hub.
Joining Shipowners after five years with Standard Asia is Singaporean Dolf Ng. Also an underwriter, who started with the Club earlier this year, Ng will bolster the branch’s underwriting capacity and help develop the Club’s business in the Asia-Pacific region. The department is also supported by two underwriting assistants: Celinne Lim gained experience in commercial underwriting before joining the Club a little over two years ago; and Yang Shangrong joined late last year and has a varied background in business commerce solutions and sales and customer support.
On the claims side, the Singapore branch has significantly developed its resource within the last six months with two claims handlers having been appointed earlier this year. Shirley Ng has experience as both an insurance broker and a claims manager at a freight forwarding company in Singapore, while Rosli Bin Samat has a wealth of marine and cargo related experience. Having joined Shipowners from a position responsible for insurance claims at a major shipowner involved in the offshore industry, Rosli also has experience as a marine surveyor and has three years sea-going experience.