BRITANNIA P&I Club parent Britannia Group has named Egied Verbeeck as its new non-executive chairman, with effect from the start of next year.

Verbeeck has been a director of the Britannia Group since May 2018 and spent 17 years as general counsel at Euronav, serving on its management board.

But he left the Belgian tanker operator earlier this year with a reported €500,000 ($526,000) payoff, after the Saverys family parted company with several senior executives in the wake of the failed takeover attempt mounted by John Fredriksen’s Frontline.

Verbeeck is also a past board member of the Royal Belgian Shipowners’ Association and previously worked as a lawyer for Linklaters De Brandt and French utilities company Suez Group, according to his profile on social media platform LinkedIn.

He succeeds Anthony Firmin, who retires on December 31, after chairing the group for the last five years.

Verbeek thanked his predecessor for his contribution to the marine mutual and Britannia’s shipowner members for selecting him as Firmin’s replacement.

As a P&I club, Britannia is on the hook for the first $10m retention layer on Dali (IMO: 9697428), the Singapore-flagged boxship at the centre of the Baltimore bridge collapse last March.

It recently declared a 7.5% general increase for the 2025 renewal round, the highest rate hike of any International Group club that has declared to date.

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