Naoyuki Moriya
Director/Head of Underwriting Units

We would like to express our deepest appreciation to all our Members for the 2024 policy year renewal, and to report on its outcome.

The business environment for this renewal was not easy, and remains uncertain and challenging. On a positive note, the Association’s reserve recovered somewhat as a result of last year’s 25% unbudgeted supplementary calls for 2020 and 2021 policy years for ocean-going owners’ entries. However, while the underwriting balance is being restored, premium levels are still inadequate. There are continued inflationary pressures on claims costs, and reinsurance costs remain high. We thus decided to raise overall premiums at renewal this year to ensure stable underwriting in the future. We asked for a 7.5% general increase for ocean-going owners’ entries and a 10% general increase for Naiko Class entries (Japanese coastal vessels). This is the fifth consecutive year of price increases for ocean-going owners’ entries and the third forNaiko Class. We are fully aware that this was a heavy burden for all of our Members.

Despite these circumstances, most of our Members have renewed their contracts with the Association, and we are deeply grateful for their renewal. While we have lost some contracts, we have also welcomed new Members in both Naiko Class and ocean-going owners’ entries. As a result, the Association has started the policy year 2024 (which began on 20 February 2024) with 1,929 vessels/85.6 million tons of ocean-going vessels and 1,673 vessels/2.5 million tons of Naiko Class. We shall strive to keep improving our management efficiency in order to continue providing high quality insurance services to our Members. Once again, we would like to thank all of our Members for their continued support.