The P&I covers for smaller tonnage offered on a fixed premium basis will be continued under the “UK Fixed” brand.
This means that the once second-largest fixed premium insurer for P&I has disappeared from the market as an independent player. Insurance brokers estimate that the premium volume of Thomas Miller Specialty most recently amounted to around 70 million dollars per year. The market leader in the British Marine sub-segment was estimated at around $75 million.
The introduction of UK Fixed is a “significant milestone in the expansion of the commercial portfolio and membership base,” explained the Chief Underwriting Officer of the UK P&I Club, William Beveridge. As part of the existing collaboration with Thomas Miller Specialty , the business has been trimmed for sustainable and profitable growth, Beveridge said.
The UK Club has been the sole capacity provider for Thomas Miller Specialty for a number of years and last year achieved a combined ratio of 93% in this business segment. This means that after deducting claims and administrative costs, 7% of premium income remained in surplus.
The Thomas Miller Specialty organization, with offices in London and Hamburg (Neumühlen 15), has now been merged into the UK Club. Helge Volger, now Senior Underwriting Director based in Hamburg, remains in charge of underwriting activities for Fixed Premium P&I. Sian Morris is responsible for claims processing in the London office.
The management company Thomas Miller, which also manages the UK P&I Club, laid the foundations for Thomas Miller Specialty in 2015 with the acquisition of P&I specialist Osprey. In 2016, the company was renamed TMS as a separate business unit for fixed-premium. Further acquisitions in the segment followed in the years that followed – Navigators and Zeller Associates in Hamburg in 2018 and Lodestar Marine in 2019. Thomas Miller thus played a key role in the consolidation of the segment.
