Expectations that the protection-and-indemnity (P&I) clubs would turn in the best performance in seven years have been borne out.
With just one of the 13 International Group clubs yet to report, a collective surplus of $585m has been rung up, lifting the combined free reserve to $5.3bn.
The result is the best since the years to February 2011 and 2010, when the clubs had extraordinary financial returns as their investment portfolios bounced back from the market crash of a couple of years earlier.
