In a recent interview, Nick Shaw (CEO of International P&I Clubs) noted that “There is no reason to build new [P&I] Club unless you have enough tone to take care of“The Indian fleet’s offer may be too small to justify a native P&I club.
“Unless the Indian fleet grows widely, India may not have the value of investing capital to form its P&I, especially when Indian ship owners can participate in clubs in advance,” he said.
Shaw noted: Many of the existing clubs have a multinational board (for example, the Indian Transport Company is on the board of Northstandard, an important P&I club) ..
He also cited Greece, which controls about 20 % of the world tonnage, as a country without the Greek P&I Club because the Greek ship owners simply join the existing international clubs.
The basic assumption here is The size of the fleet is the determinant In determining whether India can maintain a P&I club.
Tonance of the Ig P&I Fleet Fleet against India
When comparing the national fleet (with the registration flag, based on UNCTAD 2023 data), India’s tonnage is actually larger than or comparable to several countries that already host IG P&I clubs:
- India: 18.13 million pounds dwt
- England: 10.69 million pounds dwt (Domicile of UK Club, Britannia, Northstandard, London Club)
- US: 12.62 Million pounds dwt (American Club)
- Sweden: 1.25 million pounds dwt (Swedish Club)
- Luxembourg: 1.42 million pounds dwt (Domicile for the West of England and the boys of the ship after Brexit)
- Norway: 23.46 million pounds dwt (Guard, Scold)
- Japan: 41.71 Million pounds dwt (Japanese club)
- Bermuda (the territory outside of England): 7.04 million pounds dwt (Legal base for several clubs for regulatory reasons)
View: £ 18m India is larger than England, the United States, Sweden, Luxembourg and Bermuda, all of whom host IG clubs.
This clearly shows that the fleet’s size alone does not determine the survival of a P&I club.
How a P&I Club is marked with a country
What causes a “Indian” P&I club?
In the World Practice, a P&I Club is considered from the country of “from”:
For example, the British P&I club is established in London and is regulated by the British law, but its membership has always been international.
Most of the fleet covered by Greek, Asian or other foreign flag tonnage, not British ships in England ..
The same is true for the Swedish club, the American club and the Japanese P&I club, all of which live nationally but are common globally.
This distinction is very important for India. Indian Registry is a traditional and closed registryThis means that foreign ship owners cannot simply register their ships under the Indian flag, as in open registrations such as Panama or Liberia ..
. However, Subscribe to the P&I Club tied to the registry flag.. a future P&I Indian club can insure:
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Indian -controlled ships that fly foreign flags (many
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Non -Indian fleet from South Asia, the Middle East or Africa, if the club creates credit and offers competitive prices.
In this sense, “a P&I Indian club” means a club In the internal India and adjustedOne is not limited to Indian ships ..
Like its counterparts in Europe, Japan and the United States, it is likely to begin with intense domestic participation, but needs international tonnage to achieve the scale needed for a sustainable mutual mutation.
The benefits of an Indian P&I club
Even with the traditional (closed) registry of India, which does not attract foreign ships such as an open registry or Panama or Liberia, it has clear benefits to follow a domestic P&I club:
- Strategic sovereignty and resistance to sanctions
- Protect Indian ships against disruption of cover because of geopolitical conflicts or sanctions.
- Make sure that Indian trade continues even if Western insurers limit the cover.
- Cost savings for internal operators
- India’s smaller coastal and domestic operators are currently paying high insurance premiums abroad.
- A domestic club can provide a maximum of 30 % lower, proportional to Indian danger profiles ..
- Making a marine insurance ecosystem
- Extend the expertise of local subtitles, managing demands and legal capacity.
- Strengthen India’s wider marine ecosystem alongside initiatives like Make in India and Sagarmala ..
- Preserving capital in India
- Indian wrestlers pay billions of rupees annually to foreign clubs.
- A domestic club keeps more invested in a place ..
- Increasing Indian influence
- Currently, Indian ship owners are represented through personal board seats such as the role of SCI in Northstandard in Ig clubs.
- A domestic Indian club, once accepted to Ig, raises the presence to the institutional level and gives India a seat in P&I world policies and insurance debates.
Consequences of India
- The size of the fleet is not disqualified.
- An Indian P&I club can be in Indian life and sovereignty, not a flag monopoly ..
- The discussion of “Do we have enough tone” to “do we have strategy, capital and ambitions” to build a club.
- The actual test will be whether India can convince domestic ship owners to change, absorb external tonnage and maintain global level claims and reinsurance capacity.
End
While Nick Shaw’s caution is valid about the scale, a P&I club needs to be critical to the crisis to expand the risk Fleet Tonance alone is not an obstacle.. Countries with a smaller fleet than India that are currently hosting IG clubs.
The real question is whether India wants to pursue this as a strategic initiative (capital preservation, assurance of sovereignty, building expertise) or as a competitive counterpart that must pursue confidence in the world market.
In this light, the “sufficient tanning” test may not be a good yard. Indian ambitions for a P&I domestic club can be both possible and useful, provided in anchor strategy, not just the size ..
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