China P&I seeks seat at global insurance top table

China Shipowners Mutual Assurance Association, better known as China P&I Club, has formally applied to join the International Group of P&I Clubs, potentially bringing a mainland Chinese insurer into the powerful marine insurance grouping for the first time.

The International Group confirmed it had received the application after China P&I chairman Xu Lirong and other senior executives visited its London headquarters on October 13.

“The Group was pleased to welcome CPI Chairman Xu Li Rong and other senior members of CPI to the IG’s London office,” International Group chief executive Nick Shaw said.“

At the meeting, the IG was presented with CPI’s application to join the IG, which will be considered in accordance with the agreed process.”

The application will be assessed over the coming months against admission criteria agreed by the existing clubs. The International Group stressed that the process will not affect the February 2027 P&I renewal.

China P&I is not starting entirely outside the system.

The Shanghai-headquartered mutual is already an approved reinsured association within the International Group structure and has reinsurance arrangements with several existing member clubs. Full membership, however, would represent a significant step up in its position in the international marine insurance market.

The International Group currently comprises 12 P&I clubs, which collectively provide liability cover for around 87% of the world’s oceangoing tonnage. The group shares claims above the individual club retention, currently $10m, through its pooling arrangements and backs them with a large collective reinsurance programme.

If admitted, China P&I would become the group’s first mainland Chinese member.

Founded in Beijing in 1984 and now headquartered in Shanghai, China P&I has grown into China’s largest P&I insurer. As of February this year, it had 104.8m gt across 2,199 P&I-entered vessels and describes itself as the eighth-largest P&I insurer globally by entered tonnage.

Its membership has also moved well beyond domestic Chinese owners. More than 200 members include China Cosco Shipping and China Merchants alongside international names such as OOCL, Seaspan, PIL, CMA CGM, Costamare, Wan Hai and Zodiac Maritime. It has branches in London, Singapore and Piraeus as well as several locations across Greater China.

AM Best reaffirmed China P&I’s A- financial strength rating with a stable outlook in July, citing very strong balance-sheet strength and low underwriting leverage.

The application is the latest move in the Chinese mutual’s broader internationalisation push.

Splash reported in August that Seaspan became the first overseas shipowner to pay P&I calls to China P&I in renminbi, initially covering two 14,000 teu newbuildings. The arrangement pushed the Chinese currency into a part of marine insurance traditionally dominated by the dollar and European insurance markets.

China P&I also established the Hong Kong Shipowners Mutual Assurance Association last year as part of a drive to strengthen its presence outside mainland China.

The application now puts China P&I’s ambitions before the International Group’s 12 member clubs, which will determine whether it can progress from reinsured status to full membership.

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