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The
massive Singapore-flagged container ship Dali sailing out of
Baltimore Harbor bound for Sri Lanka reported losing power and
the ability to maneuver before plowing into a support pylon of
the bridge on Tuesday.
The impact brought most of the bridge tumbling into the mouth of
the Patapsco River, blocking shipping lanes and forcing the
indefinite closure of the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest
on the U.S. Eastern Seaboard.
The tragedy could lead to up to $4 billion in insurance claims,
Morningstar DBRS said.
It was too soon to put a figure on the total insurance loss,
Bruce Carnegie-Brown told Reuters, but he said he would be "very
surprised" if the event did not result in a multi-billion dollar
loss, adding that "the tragedy has the capacity to become the
largest single marine insurance loss ever".
The previous record marine loss was from the Costa Concordia
luxury cruise liner disaster in 2012.
Lloyd's, which has more than 50 member firms, is active in the
marine and property insurance markets, which are expected to
face large claims from the damage to the bridge and the
disruption at the port.
Lloyd's had gross written premiums in 2022 of more than 6
billion pounds ($7.5 billion) in marine, aviation and transport
insurance and reinsurance. North America is its largest market.
Carnegie-Brown also said the insurer has set aside 1.6 billion
pounds ($2 billion) in reserves in the past two years for
disputed aviation claims over planes stuck in Russia following
its invasion of Ukraine.
Talks between aviation leasing companies and insurers to reach
settlements over the multi-billion dollar claims were at a
"reasonably advanced stage", Carnegie-Brown said, ahead of major
court cases in Dublin and London due to take place this year.
Lloyd's reported a 2023 pre-tax profit of 10.7 billion pounds
($13.49 billion) earlier on Thursday, boosted by strong
underwriting and investment performance.
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn; Editing by Sinead Cruise and Ros
Russell)
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