He will succeed Andrew Bardot who has announced his retirement in July, 2019.
Also next month will see the appointment, for a three-year term, of the forthcoming International Group chairman, Paul Jennings, CEO of the North of England.
Shaw has practised in shipping and marine insurance law since 1990. Throughout his career, he has worked closely with the Group P&I clubs, and has extensive experience of handling P&I and Defence claims, coupled with high level management experience gained as the shipping group practice leader at Richards Butler from 2003-2007 and as global industry group leader following its merger with Reed Smith since 2007.
He will join the team at the group secretariat in April, 2019 and will work alongside Bardot during the handover period.
Current group chairman, Hugo Wynn-Williams, commented "The Group is delighted to have secured such a strong candidate to take over and build on the considerable progress, which the group secretariat team under the leadership of Andrew Bardot has achieved over the past 13 years, in particular in raising the effectiveness and wider awareness of the vital role played by the group and its member clubs in facilitating maritime trade, and in ensuring a sustainable and robust global compensation mechanism to meet the needs of those impacted by maritime accidents.
“Nick has a strong background and reputation in the maritime legal sector, and is very well known to the group clubs with whom he has worked over many years, and he and the secretariat team will be very well placed to continue the work to raise levels of awareness and understanding of the collective benefits which the group system delivers, and to assist the group in identifying and navigating the challenges in the years ahead," he said.
Shaw added "It’s been a terrific 29 years and I’m proud to have been a part of such a talented team of maritime lawyers at Reed Smith and, prior to the merger, Richards Butler. I am now ready for the new and different challenges that await me at the International Group. That said, I realise that with Andrew Bardot’s departure I have large shoes to fill."
****Britannia’s new Greek team has recently taken up residence in Piraeus.
The P&I Club’s new office, located in the Ionian Building off Akti Miaouli, is headed by David Harley who recently returned to the London office having established and worked for over five years as head of Britannia, Hong Kong.
He is assisted by newly appointed Konstantinos Samaritis, who joined from a Greek shipowner, having previously worked for both Standard and Skuld Clubs’ Greek operations.
In addition, experienced claims executives Denise Dellow and Vasilios Koukamakis have relocated from London.
Greece now accounts for 10% of Britannia’s business with the club recently welcoming Tsakos Energy Navigation (TEN) and Ionic Holdings to the members representative committee (MRC).
Other key Greek members of the Club include, Atlantic Bulk Carriers, Neda Maritime Agencies, Diana Shipping, Olympic Shipping, Konkar, Star Bulk, Navios, Eastern Med, Minerva, Thenamaris, Sun Enterprises and ENESEL, some of which are tanker owners.
****Carsten Mortensen has resigned from DHT Holdings board.
He was replaced by Anders Onarheim with immediate effect, who becomes a Class III director with a term expiring at the 2021 annual meeting of shareholders.