Northern Insight talk to Jeremy Grose and Paul Jennings, Managing Directors of NorthStandard.
You might never have heard of them, but NorthStandard is truly a hidden gem, born and based in the North East.
Highly respected in marine industries worldwide, NorthStandard has an annual turnover exceeding $US 800 million (£680 million) and is growing at a rate of more than 2.5% annually, ahead of the growth in the global commercial fleet. NorthStandard’s insured tonnage now exceeds 260 million gross tonnes, roughly equivalent to one in five of the world’s ocean-going fleet.
NorthStandard specialises in providing “Protection and Indemnity” (P&I) insurance, a type of marine insurance that shipowners purchase to cover the potentially huge costs of any harm they accidentally cause to people, property and the environment.
As liabilities for injuries, cargo loss, collisions and pollution can far exceed the value of a vessel, shipowners have found since the 19th century that the most costeffective way of buying P&I cover is through not-for-profit ‘clubs’ of like-minded shipowners – NorthStandard is one such club.
In February 2023, in a visionary strategic move ahead of its main rivals, Newcastle’s ‘North P&I’ merged with one of its largest competitors, ‘Standard Club’, to form NorthStandard.
What did you set out to achieve this year?
Our number one goal for 2023 was to achieve a successful merger between North P&I and Standard Club. This took place on 20 February 2023, and NorthStandard instantly became one of the largest and most influential forces in global marine insurance.
Not only did we face the legal challenges of a merger of this scale but the logistical and practical task of combining two large and global workforces, each with their own established structures, IT systems, policies, procedures and cultures.
Our aim was to establish NorthStandard as an industry leader and position ourselves as something genuinely new and different in the market, backed up by centuries of experience and expertise.
Has everything worked according to plan?
Overall, yes!
Discussions ahead of the merger had been ongoing for a while, so preparations were underway well in advance, and an extraordinary amount of work went into getting us to the merger date of 20 February. Our integration planning is still underway as we work to seamlessly bring together two such successful organisations into a single, larger business that has been shaped to support a strong in-house expertise base across the world.
What are you most proud of this year?
Without a doubt, our people. Seeing our teams thrive in the face of such change has been inspiring. We’ve been so impressed with how the two organisations have worked together to overcome challenges and truly make NorthStandard stronger than the sum of its parts.
The support we’ve seen from our members has also made all of us at NorthStandard incredibly proud. Our members make us who we are, and without their support for the merger and our new organisational structure, NorthStandard simply wouldn’t exist.
Describe 2023 in three words…
Challenging. Reaffirming. Rewarding
What are your aims for 2024?
We aim to continue our work to bring our teams and offices around the world together – we’ve successfully merged our offices in New York, London, Singapore, Greece, Hong Kong and Tokyo in 2023 and look to do the same in other global offices.
We are also in the early stages of planning a complete refurbishment of our Newcastle headquarters, based on the Quayside. This investment will reaffirm our commitment to the North East and to our people. Creating a dynamic and hybrid working environment to equip our people to work in the ways that suit them best whilst simultaneously allowing the business to meet the challenges of the future.
2024 will also see the launch of our new website and an expanded range of digital services. This will help our members keep up to date with the latest news and guidance on everything from sanctions and geopolitics to health and safety at sea.
Thanks to our members, we can also boost our support to local charitable causes in the North East and beyond in 2024 with increased funding for a wide range of organisations active in the region, ranging from end-of-life care to the environment to combating poverty to animal welfare.
north-standard.com