I. Overall Status
China Shipowners Mutual Assurance Association, generally known as the China P&I Club or CPI , was set up in 1984 . The past years since then have witnessed a dramatic development and improvement on the aspects such as: entered tonnage, membership, management and level of services within such a short span of time. With the full support of government agencies and shipping communities, CPI has already become one of the leading P&I Clubs in the Asia Pacific region, offering tailored P&I cover and comprehensive professional services. Thanks to the firm support of our member, nowadays the membership of this Association is much diversified, not only limited to the mainland of P.R.China, but also comprises prominent shipowners in Hong Kong , Singapore and other Far East Asia areas.

II Underwriting Philosophy
CPI has adopted a policy of prudence and consolidation in underwriting. Our primary concern is the benefits of mutuality: the provision of excellent service within a non-profit-making framework. CPI employs every efforts to ensure that premium covers claims, so that the Members can set their insurance budgets and risk management with confidence.
Quality management is the key to the CPI's tremendous but stable development. CPI has built a reputation for taking a selective approach to underwriting. Being a mutual insurer, CPI has been performing the following straightforward policies to protect the interests of all the members and keep the club in a safe and sound financial situation:
.The club offers cover for neither one-ship(singleton) nor poorly managed applicants;
.The club strictly controls the entry of over-aged ships
.The club may at its discretion carry out pre-entry survey and condition survey with necessary follow-ups;

The call rate level is assessed on the particulars of the ships, the management standard of the applicants and its loss record and etc. The market comments that the levels of CPI's rates are reasonably competent and attractive. The usual Estimated supplementary call rate offered by CPI is 20% while the estimated release call rate is 35%.

IV Management Structure
The statute and the management infrastructure of this Association is very similar to those of the P&I Clubs located in Britain and Scandinavia . According to its bye-laws and the Rules, the General Meeting of Members and the Board of Directors are the governing bodies of the Association. The management is delegated to deal with the routine business.

The club’s headquarter is in Beijing but there are also representative offices in the major ports of China's mainland such as Shanghai and Dalian. In addition, a service company was set up in 1994 in Hong Kong aimed at the promotion of services to our members. As the Correspondent,they assist local members in such matters as on-spot investigation, appointment of local surveyor or lawyer and providing prompt advice and claim handling services to members with arm's reach. They have also been authorized or entrusted by CPI Beijing office or other representative offices to attend special cases or matters from time to time.

V Coverage
Like the majority of Clubs, CPI covers its Members those similar third party liabilities in respect of loss of and damage to cargo , injury ,illness or loss of life of crew or passengers ,pollution damage, collision liability , fines, wreck removals and etc. As one of the independent P&I Clubs, CPI has a good cooperation with the international P&I society. Although CPI is still not a member of Pool Clubs, the coverage provided by CPI is, in principle, identical to that provided by a Pool Club in respect of both scope and limits. CPI maintains very close links with some major Clubs in the Pool through a co-insurance arrangement.
Mutual Hull cover is also offered to its Members to save the Members' cost and fully protect their interests, and the scope of this cover is similar to those of ITC or PICC , a typical China marine hull insurance clause.
At the present stage, FD&D coverage and Time Charterers Liability Cover are available to members as well.

VI. Claims Services:
Claims services are provided by the Association on 24 -hour basis including weekends and public holidays. The claims services are centralized in the head office in Beijing with managers, executives and supporting staff divided into three syndicates. Corresponding to the syndicate management in the head office, there are two representative offices and an appointed service company with claim handling team based in Dalian, Shanghai and H.K taking care of local members there.

Apart from routine claims handling work , CPI is also ready to assist its members with FD&D services, drafting of contract of affeightment terms and other advisory and loss prevention services tailoring to individual member’s need. One of the most important services to the members is provision of security. Nowadays CPI’s letter of guarantee is not only one of the three officially accepted forms of security by the Supreme Court of China but it is also accepted by many government agencies and various claimants all over the world. In case of difficulty our co-insurance Clubs are also ready to assist in putting up Pool member’s letter of guarantee. Moreover the Association has bank guarantee agreement with the Bank of China, Banque Nationale De Paris (BNP) in France and other bonding facilities with local reputable insurance companies or other financial institutions in H.K, the Philippines and Singapore. All these security arrangements have been proving efficient and quick in case of need.

VII Correspondents Network
Realizing the essential role of Club correspondents, CPI set up a complete network of correspondents from the beginning of its foundation. Over the years we have built up a worldwide network of correspondents now numbered about 200 covering all major ports of the world, which is still being expanded and readjusted , as per the regular assessments on their services quality.

VIII. Loss prevention
CPI's loss prevention efforts include a comprehensive programme of on board surveys with focus on cargo worthiness, seaworthiness and safety. Such surveys are a potential and important element of our loss prevention process. CPI also issues loss prevention circulars to Members regularly. Advisory Service, a monthly bulletin is delivered to each member. Most of these documents focus on the guidelines on loss prevention, maritime law updates and etc. We also hold one or two seminars each year for Members to be kept with latest developments on loss prevention.. Some representatives from Members, maritime lawyers even some Judges from Maritime Court are invited to make lectures. These seminars are warmly welcomed by the members .

IX. Local Privileges
Being a sole local P&I Club in the mainland China, CPI can make use of its full advantages and privileges of localization to benefit its Member cost-effectively, such as in-house lawyer services, legally approved LOU for releasing arrested vessels without delay. CPI keeps the close contacts with the Maritime Safety Administration, Classification Society, and Legislative Institution. Being legal advisors to the Chinese Governments Delegation , staff from CPI Management often attend some IMO meeting such as IMO's Legal Committee meetings and Deplomatic Conference in respect of establishing international liability regime for shipowners. Among the senior staff of CPI management team, there are standing members of Class-committee under China Classification Society, qualified maritime Arbitrators of China Maritime Arbitration Committee. In the fields of shipping and other marine affairs, CPI has extensively involved in and played an active role in the governmental legislation programs and their feasible studies as well . Such characteristics are quite attractive to those overseas shipowners whose ships frequently trade to China's Mainland ports.

X. Team of Management
Realizing that only good management team can guarantee good quality services , the Association has always laid focus on the job training of the staff . CPI today is run by a team of managers and staff which have expertise in law , insurance , account and seamanship. Some of them have acquired Doctor and/or Master Degree in Maritime Law in British universities , many of them have experienced the training programs in the international P&I Clubs based in London and law firm overseas.

XI Looking into the Future
Being a relatively young Club, we are more energetic, ambitious and dedicated to our set goals: we have set ourselves on the road of standardization of management and globalization of business with market consciousness and there will be no stop until we get to our destination.