Office Profile Singapore - Waypoints Issue 03
West’s Singapore office is right at the heart of one of the world’s busiest port cities. As a shipping centre of critical worldwide importance, Singapore will need little introduction. But one statistic that gives a good feel of the tonnage on the move here is that at any one time there are around 1,000 vessels in Singapore port with a vessel entering or leaving every three minutes.
Established in 2017 in Robinson 77, located in Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar Central Business District area, the West office was originally set up by Malcolm Pedley, Julien Rabeux and David Griffiths, who all moved down from the Hong Kong office and all of whom remain with the company.
Both underwriting and claims-handling functions are supported. In addition to their Asian membership and reflecting the city state’s role as a crossroads for world trade, the office services worldwide members, many of whom have their own Singapore offices.
Malcolm Pedley, West’s Singapore’s CEO says:
“The government here provides a politically stable and pro-business environment with the Maritime Port Authority (MPA) the driving force behind the development of Singapore’s Maritime industry. The Club has a very well-established presence in Asia and the Singapore Office reconfirms the Club’s commitment to developing the brand throughout the region.”
According to Malcolm, the reason for the establishment of the Singapore office was mostly to grow the Club’s business in Singapore and Southeast Asia:
“When we looked at business development in Singapore, it quickly became clear that to grow your business in Singapore, you have to be in Singapore.”
Singapore’s position at the intersection of shipping routes makes it the key trade hub for Southeast Asia.
David Griffiths, Malcolm Pedley, Julien Rabeux
As well as performing the role of Chief Executive, Malcolm continues to underwrite the Club’s Vietnamese business and oversees the Club’s membership in Singapore, Thailand, Korea and Taiwan.
Julien Rabeux, Singapore’s Head of Claims qualified as a solicitor in a London shipping law firm, and was based in West of England’s Hong Kong Office for five years, before moving to Singapore. In addition to our Asian members, Julien manages the claims handling and advice for European members with satellite offices in Singapore.
David Griffiths, Senior Underwriter, and the third founding member of the office, has underwriting responsibility for the Club’s Members in Singapore, Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South East Asia.
Growing Team
Bharath R. Ganesh, Julien Rabeux, Eugene Cheng, Manali Sabnis, Kay Williams, David Griffiths, Malcolm Pedley
The office is growing fast, and at time of publication, the team will have grown to eight employees:
- Kay Williams joined the team as Office Manager in 2017
- Eugene Cheng handles both P&I and FD&D claims. He has also authored a number of the Club’s defence and claims guides
- Bharath Ganesh and Manali Sabnis joined the claims team in 2021
- Manfred Tan joined the team as an underwriting assistant in June 2022