Welcome from Harry Gilbert - Chairman of ITIC

In this, my third year as chairman of your Club, it gives me great pleasure to introduce this edition of the Intermediary to you. Once again, under the stewardship of the Managers at Thomas Miller, the Club has had a very successful year which culminated in your Board of Directors agreeing to grant, for the twelfth consecutive year a continuity credit of up to 30% of expiring premium.

The last six months has seen the Club introduce a new product for you, the Members: Directors’ and Officers’ insurance. Details of this offering, and the types of claims it covers can be read within this edition of the Intermediary.

This month, the Board of Directors of the Club are meeting in Copenhagen with a further meeting in Oslo. A large proportion of the Club’s pool manager members are based in Scandinavia and, accordingly, the leading article in this edition concentrates on the challenge of maritime competition law for pool managers. However, as always, the Intermediary also includes a wide number of articles dealing with areas of interest for most, if not all, of our members.

In addition, as you will note from publicity within the magazine, the Club will hold the third ITIC Forum on 1st and 2nd October 2008 at the Dorchester Hotel in London. This provides you with the direct opportunity to question the managers and to hear key figures from the industry speak on areas of interest to all of us. The last two events, held in 2000 and 2004, were great successes and I would recommend that as many of you as possible attend the next Forum.

Finally, I extend my thanks to you for your continued support of the Club.