Shoreline boss claims mutual can sail safe course

The mutual, which provides shipowners with a ticket to trade to the US by writing the guarantees they require to obtain Certificates of Financial Responsibility (COFRs), is facing a challenging time as the limits of cover required under US pollution legislation are rising.

But Ross says Shoreline will continue to provide COFR guarantees at affordable cost and can sail a safe course despite stormy financial times.

He adds that Shoreline will benefit from mutuality and should not be affected by plummeting investment returns or worries about returns on equity.

Bermuda-based Shoreline, which is heavily reinsured, provides COFR guarantees for more than 3,000 vessels, one-third of them tankers, with a fleet of well over 100 million gt on its books.

Despite being in a business based on certificates, it has managed to achieve a paperless office this year, sending documents to the US Coast Guard (USCG)'s National Pollution Funds Center electronically.

The initiative may result in the end of paper certificates as the US authorities are moving toward issuing COFRs digitally.