Mike Patterson & Patterson & Associates: Pioneering an Advanced Approach in Marine Surveying, Loss Adjusting, & Risk Assessment

Pioneering Marine Insurance Solutions in South Africa is the Durban-based, South African insurance firm Patterson & Associates, the brainchild of Mike Patterson.

Incepted in 1989 with an objective to provide the local and international marine insurance industry, importers and exporters, Port Authorities, and local and international Maritime Law Firms with specialized marine surveying, loss adjusting, risk assessment, and investigative services. Today the company represents a wide range of clients worldwide with its office expansion in Durban, Johannesburg, Cape Town (SA) Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Zambia.

Through its regional offices, the firm operates in all Southern African Development Community Countries and further afield as and when required. They have attended investigations in most parts of Africa, South America, The Middle East, the Far East, Indian Ocean countries, etc.

To explain more in-depth how Patterson & Associates work, the visionary shared, “We are survey agents for insurers and insurance brokers in Africa, Europe, the United Kingdom, USA, and Australia. Our survey and investigative work is undertaken throughout Southern Africa, East Africa, and including Indian Ocean countries i.e., Madagascar/Mauritius/Seychelles/Reu nion, etc. To facilitate our quick reaction time, in particular, in Southern African countries, it is the reason we have offices in the places mentioned above .”

For their quality solutions and outstanding services, Patterson & Associates has been listed as marine cargo surveyors of the year by several international publications including Acquisition International, ACQ Law Awards, Corporate International and Global Advisory Experts. They envision themselves continuing to provide a capable and efficient/prompt service to their local and international clients.

More about the Founder

Mike Patterson – Managing Director of Patterson and Associates began his career in 1981, initially working for a local insurer and then broker. He is truly a dynamic business leader and is great at taking care of multiple things at once. He is also known for his thought leadership and revolutionary ideas across the insurance industry. His expertise spans working as a broker and claims handler since 1981 and has been a Marine Surveyor since 1983. Mike Patterson has had the opportunity to work all over the world for cargo underwriters, brokers, and marine lawyers.

In 1989 Mike Patterson left the corporate surveying company that he was working for and started his own Marine Surveying company. Here, he is responsible for the company’s overall regional operations while bringing years of cumulative insurance industry knowledge, experience, and leadership expertise to the table.

Beginning of an Era

A leader in Marine Insurance Service today, the idea of Patterson & Associates was formed by Mike Patterson in order to provide what he believed would be a more personalised and efficient service to local and international clients, comprising mainly insurers, brokers, and maritime law firms.

Hurdles and Motivating Factors

Difficulties and challenges faced include the logistics of travelling to certain, often remote or hostile, locations in order to conduct investigations, and to know where and how to obtain the information that they know the insurer will need to take a properly informed decision on any claim. When claims are settled by insurers under subrogation, they need to have confidence that the survey report provided by the appointed surveyor will stand up in court, should the underwriters decide to litigate against the party physically/contractually responsible for the loss.

Fear of failure is what motivates Mike, and not wanting to let his clients down. Insurers at all stages, in particular, need to be provided with quick and accurate information that enables them to properly consider the extent of their liability, if any, within the terms of the applicable policy.

The Motivated Team

The team is motivated by awareness to react immediately to any instructions received from a client globally, to ensure that sufficient, accurate/verifiable information is collected and provided to the client as soon as possible; the quicker we provide the client with information, the more they satisfy the client’s needs and the more they attract business from the client.

What is Success?

Success for Mike Patterson and his team is represented by the positive comments and feedback that they get from clients which for them validates the effort that they put in.

“I have never regarded myself as a business leader, simply a marine cargo surveyor and loss adjuster who is passionate about what he does and remains constantly interested in the marine insurance and shipping world where one is learning all the time”, Mike Patterson further added.

Visionary’s Take on the Current Marine Insurance Landscape

The current global marine insurance landscape includes a shortage of sufficiently experienced marine insurance claims personnel; it has become increasingly important for us to assist the clients from time to time upon request by providing recommendations and guidance on certain cases.

Words of Wisdom

Mike’s advice to budding and aspiring entrepreneurs is to;

1. Always remember that the harder you work the “luckier” you get; you create your own luck and opportunities.
2. Honesty, integrity, efficiency, and a sufficient range of Human communication skills are absolutely vital in this industry.
3. In his 41 years in this business the leader has learned that people are the same the world over; treat everybody with respect and you will receive it in return.
4. It is always better to do business with friends than enemies.