Paul Jennings – Finding Renewed Purpose in Constant Change

It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has been one of the most unexpected events in recent times, creating immense commercial challenges for shipping businesses, disrupting global supply chains, shipping networks and port operations. When reviewing this global impact, the importance of the individual seafarers cannot be forgotten. Despite all the progress being made with crew vaccinations and repatriation arrangements, I continue to call for more countries around the world to recognise seafarers as ‘Key Workers of the Sea’ to ensure that crew do not once again become ‘collateral damage’ in a pandemic that, I believe, is far from over.

As North continues to adapt to the ‘new normal’ here in the UK and around the globe, our Members, Clients and Brokers can continue to rely on North’s outstanding and responsive global service whatever the circumstances. We recently published the results from our third satisfaction survey, measuring feedback on our products and services, including how we supported Members and Clients through the COVID-19 pandemic, and I was gratified by the results. Satisfaction with our service provision reached a 7-year high and our overall Net Promoter Score (NPS) jumped to a record high of +60. More specifically, the feedback on how North dealt with the pandemic was extremely positive and is testament to the dedication and commitment of our teams across the globe who have continued to provide outstanding Member and Client service.

Earlier this year we published our Annual Review, recording our continuing transformation to a diversified global marine insurer. An essential part of this journey is our ongoing prudent growth and diversification strategy, which continues to deliver new income streams for North.  This includes year-on-year premium growth in our existing Hull and Machinery, Fixed Premium P&I and Aquaculture businesses as well as our newest facility – North Hull. This approach, combined with a robust investment return, saw North report positive returns for the 2020/2021 financial year.

Looking to the future, digital technology and collaboration will be key to further improving the services we provide. We’ve continued to develop our award-winning MyGlobeView platform with the introduction of new data layers, including global bunker data through fuel testing experts VPS, a Country Corruption Index and Continental & Oceanic Weather data feeds. North also partnered with Orca AI as part of a transformational project that improves the risk profile of our entered vessels and will help to reduce the number of loss incidents. This investment in proactive risk management and loss prevention services comes at an extremely important time as the first part of 2021 saw a number of high-profile incidents, including the Ever Given blockage of the Suez Canal and the pollution from the X-Press Pearl off the coast of Sri Lanka, once again bringing the maritime industry into the public spotlight. Unforeseen incidents of this magnitude may well fuel calls for additional marine and environmental safeguards to be introduced.

Within North we are now taking proactive steps to embed sustainability and environmental responsibility into all aspects of our operations to ensure that we are making a positive impact on society and the wider environment. As a leading global marine insurer, we are playing our part in educating, supporting and encouraging the transition to a more sustainable global maritime industry. We’ll be releasing more information about our sustainability strategy in the next few months.

Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, is quoted as saying “change is the only constant in life” and change we have. Over the last 18 months, and longer for our staff in Asia, we have reviewed our operations to ensure that we will continue to enable our Members and Clients to trade with confidence whatever the circumstances. The first half of 2021 has certainly presented a number of challenges and we look ahead towards the second part of the year, when, with global vaccinations programmes well underway, I hope that we can meet again in person and build on the relationships that make the global maritime industry so unique.