West Dubai: One year on and looking ahead
The West P&I Club Dubai office opened one year ago with a clear goal: to have a fully-fledged West presence in the region. Over the past twelve months, that vision has been taking shape and the regional team has shown it embodies the same standards, service culture and technical capabilities as West’s other regional offices.
The office is located in Central Park Towers in Dubai’s International Financial Centre (DIFC), and while it is relatively new, West has a long-standing history and success in the region going back 50 years. It is still the first and only International Group P&I Club to have a presence in the territory. This reflects the importance of West’s Members in the Middle East, Africa and India, which make up a large proportion of the Club’s membership.
West is already firmly embedded in the regional maritime community, with Members benefiting from support in their time zone, in-person meetings, and access to experts with local knowledge. The office is now supporting Members on all fronts – including claims, underwriting and hosting events in the region.
With this local integration, West is no longer ‘an insurer visiting from overseas’ but rather recognised as an established P&I Club in the Middle East and UAE in particular. The recent Dubai Office Open Day exemplified this perfectly, attracting not only Members and brokers but also a broad cross-section of the local maritime industry. The team has also been networking and sharing knowledge speaking at several high-profile industry events in the region, including the first-ever Marine Insurance Middle East event, where Gagan Dhillon, our CEO (Dubai) and Ian Clarke, our CEO (Hellas) both presented.
Shipowners and operators in the Middle East and worldwide are facing an increasingly complex operating environment, driven by geopolitical factors such as Red Sea crisis. With Members in the region and globally impacted by these issues, West’s local presence has allowed the Club to offer more in-depth advice more quickly, understand any regional context, and build stronger face to face working relationships.
Expanding the Dubai team has underpinned progress in the region. Under the leadership of Master Mariner Gagan Dhillon, the office has grown by about a third in just one year and now includes two English-qualified lawyers, strengthening the team’s ability to support Members with complex matters and localised legal advice. Claims Manager Katie Lilley also joined from the Hong Kong office and has brought valuable experience from Asia, where West first opened an office in 1982.
Individual recognition has followed too, with West Claims Manager Sotiris Tzintanos named in the Seatrade Maritime 20 under 40 young maritime leaders – featuring those who have made significant contributions to global maritime community in 2025. Sotiris is a Solicitor qualified in England and Wales and is bilingual in English and Greek. He advises on a wide range of FD&D and P&I matters and has litigation experience since 2012.
The Dubai office is also playing a key role in the offshore market, a sector where the region is particularly strong. With a large proportion of West’s offshore Members based in the Middle East, Dubai is a natural hub for that regional business and a platform for the growing global offshore team and Membership. The new Offshore team has also developed the full claims service and technical capabilities that West Members expect.
Dubai itself is part of this growth story too. The city is consolidating its position as a global maritime hub and acting as a springboard into Saudi Arabia and the wider Gulf, where investment in shipping and offshore is accelerating. Dubai is currently ranked third, following Singapore and London, as the most desirable destination for relocating maritime headquarters.
So, what comes next? The focus is on continuing to build the team in line with Members’ needs, to deepen and broaden Membership in the region, and to keep showing West Dubai’s quality service. Looking ahead, West expects its Membership figures in the Middle East to grow as the new office goes from strength to strength for existing Members, new accounts and employees, and as the Club strengthens its position as the leading P&I insurer in the region.