American Club Wins P&I Award

"An excellent start to 2005 and the new policy year" is how Joe Hughes, chief executive of managers Shipowners Claims Bureau Inc., describes the American Club's double achievement of the past week.

On February 24, at London's Banqueting House in Whitehall, the club was voted the winner among four finalists for the P&I/Insurance Services Award at Lloyd's List's 2005 Awards covering 12 categories of the maritime industry.

The P&I Award, sponsored by Clyde & Co., was presented to Paul Sa, the club's chairman, by Derek Hodgson, partner and head of the maritime transportation department at Clyde.

"The award partly reflects the successful conclusion in 2004 of the Tasman Spirit salvage and release of the Karachi Eight," said Mr Hughes, "but it also highlights what P&I is all about - service."

Earlier the same week, the American Club had reported a successful outcome of the annual P&I renewal, which saw the club post a further increase in entered tonnage, to approximately 21.7 gross tons.

"This means," said Mr Hughes, "that we start 2005 on a very strong footing, with entered tonnage, premium income and reserves at record levels." He added: "We can put the problems we met in 2004 behind us, and move forward by concentrating on boosting service levels to our membership and continuing to be innovative in our loss prevention program."

Meanwhile, the managers have recruited additional staff for the London office, and will soon open a new office on the waterfront in Piraeus to service the growing membership among Greek shipowners.