Dating back to 1865, UKP&I is a membership mutual protecting shipowners and charterers against third-party liabilities. Their members are the international shipping community.
The challenge
UKP&I approached us for what initially seemed like a simple migration with a few updates to key areas. However, as we dug deeper, it became clear that something more fundamental was needed.
- Their website was struggling with several interconnected issues:
- UKP&I couldn’t do everything they needed in the content management system, meaning that they had to wait for developers for changes.
- Important content was buried and difficult to find.
- The design didn’t reflect UKP&I’s position as an industry leader. The messaging was unfocused.
- Workflows around translations were clunky.
- And they’d been receiving feedback that important documentation was difficult.
Our approach
Understanding what matters
We started with comprehensive user experience definition work using wireframes and sitemaps. This showed that superficial changes wouldn’t solve the underlying issues and we needed to look at this more holistically. So we expanded our discovery process, speaking with UKP&I’s senior and broader teams to understand their priorities.
We also talked directly with brokers about how they actually use the website, finding that brokers weren’t looking for promotional material - they needed quick access to expertise and evidence that UKP&I understood the complexities of maritime risk.
More on this topic: Discovering your audience: tools and techniques
Defining a clear direction
We noticed something interesting when analysing competitors. Across the sector, most P&I Club websites focused on talking about themselves - their history, their credentials, their services. This was at odds with what we were hearing in the our conversations, so we established a principle that would guide every decision throughout the project:
The impression we want to leave all the audience types is simple: UKP&I is extremely knowledgeable and has their finger on the pulse. As long as we demonstrate that expertise, the “selling” takes care of itself.
After all, this is Business-to-Business where customers don’t make a purchasing decision after some quick research - this is a relationship business. Instead of promoting services, we’d focus on demonstrating a deep understanding of the maritime industry and the challenges UKP&I’s audience faces.
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A confident visual approach
For the look and feel, we deliberately leaned into the bold blue and yellow colour palette, choosing to not dilute this by using too much of the secondary colour palette. We chose a minimal, clean, uncluttered assured aesthetic that was focused on content over decoration. This was then fed back into an updated visual identity.
What we delivered
A platform that performs
We implemented TYPO3, an enterprise-class, content management system that addressed the publishing issues. The system includes robust workflow and versioning controls, powerful taxonomy and categorisation tools, and multi-language capabilities.
UKP&I can now respond to industry events in near real-time, maintaining their position as a thought leader.
Connecting to existing systems
We built a custom ship finder tool that integrates with UKP&I’s internal systems, allowing brokers and ship operators to quickly access vessel-specific information.
A dynamic content approach
The home page functions like an up-to-date industry magazine, demonstrating UKP&I’s responsiveness to current events. The flexible design system allows the team to react quickly to breaking news, promote seasonal content, and adjust the content as priorities shift.
Multilingual workflow
We integrated DeepL, a machine translation service, enabling UKP&I to efficiently provide content in Japanese, while allowing for a human to check the quality.
More on building multilingual websites: Website localisation strategy
Security without compromise
Given UKP&I’s strict security policies, we passed rigorous penetration testing requirements, while meeting the stringent requirements of a regulated financial services organisation.
Migrating decades of content
We successfully migrated over 5,000 articles, maintaining URL structures and implementing comprehensive redirects to preserve search engine rankings and existing backlinks.
The result
The new website positions UKP&I exactly where they need to be - as knowledgeable leaders who understand the maritime industry deeply. By moving away from self-promotion toward demonstrating expertise, the site naturally builds trust and confidence with maritime professionals.
Users can now find what they need quickly, whether they’re managing a specific risk, seeking expert guidance, or researching maritime insurance topics. The action-based architecture and powerful search functionality remove the friction that existed in the old site.
The UKP&I team can publish and update content efficiently, responding to industry events as they happen. This speed is crucial for maintaining their thought leadership position.
The minimal, confident design philosophy we developed puts content at the centre, allowing their expertise to shine. It’s not about making the website the hero - it’s about making UKP&I’s knowledge accessible and demonstrating their deep understanding of the maritime industry.
“We’ve worked with Liquid Light for the last few years across a website build, development, and ongoing maintenance. They’re consistently reliable, responsive, and genuinely feel like an extension of our team. The quality of their work is excellent, projects land within budget, and they make the complex feel easy. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Liquid Light to any organisation looking for a dependable web partner.”
