Members of the UK P&I Club and the TT Club, two London-managed mutual insurers serving the maritime and transport industries, have voted strongly in favour of merging to create the first transport mutual to span the entire cargo supply chain.

The group will cover maritime, logistics, ports and terminals under one parent from 20 February 2027, subject to regulatory approvals.

The UK P&I Club, founded in 1869, insures more than 250 million tonnes of owned and chartered tonnage. The TT Club, which has operated since 1968, insures 80% of the world’s container fleet and has an insurable interest in more than 70 of the world’s top 100 ports.

The combined organisation will have annual premium income of around $750 million (approximately €645 million) and free reserves of around $888 million (approximately €764 million). The merger is expected to deliver a 5% overall improvement in the combined ratio.

The structural driver is a risk landscape that is more complex and operationally connected than ever, shaped by geopolitical uncertainty, rising claims costs, technological change and competition for specialist skills.

Both Clubs will keep their names, brands and market positions, with their existing underwriting, claims and service teams, and each will have its own Club Committee. The parent company will be United Transport Mutual Limited, which will also own Thomas Miller Holdings after the Clubs’ joint acquisition offer was accepted by its shareholders.

Morten Engelstoft, chairman of the TT Club, said, “Our Members recognise that the risks facing their businesses are increasingly interconnected with adjacent industries. By combining our expertise across ships, ports, terminals and the wider supply chain, we can offer broader knowledge, deeper technical insight and greater access to specialist talent and technology, while preserving the specialist, club-level service and distinct identity our Members value.”

Andrew Taylor, who becomes chief executive of United Transport Mutual, said, “By bringing the management business into mutual ownership, value that previously left the Clubs will now be retained within the group and reinvested for Members, in the people, expertise, service and technology that will define the mutual of the future.”

William Beveridge succeeds Taylor as chief executive of the UK P&I Club, and Kevin King remains chief executive of the TT Club.

For the sector, the merger gives cargo owners, ports and shipping operators a single mutual group spanning the supply chain without changing day-to-day arrangements with members, brokers or clients.

Source: TT Club / UK P&I Club / Splash247