More expensive than Costa Concordia. Insurance claims for Baltimore run into the billions of dollars

With it unclear when the Port of Baltimore will reopen, insurers and analysts are now evaluating the likely costs in property, cargo, marine, liability and trade credit insurance. The information was brought by the Bloomberg agency.

“Depending on the length of the blockade and the nature of the port disruption, insured losses could be between $2 billion and $4 billion,” said Marcos Alvarez, managing director of global insurance ratings at Morningstar DBRS. That would surpass the record insured losses from the 2012 disaster of the luxury cruise ship Costa Concordia, he said.

Mathilde Jakobsen, senior director of analytics at insurance rating agency AM Best, also said claims are likely to be in the billions of dollars. And Barclays analysts contacted by Bloomberg estimated the amount of insurance claims at three billion dollars.

The event will increase rates

Shipowners’ associations known as P&I clubs provide shippers’ liability insurance. These international groupings insure approximately 90 percent of the world’s marine tonnage, and their members share claims in excess of ten million dollars with each other

“While total damage is expected to be high, it is unlikely to be significant for individual reinsurers as it will be spread across many reinsurers,” added Moody’s analyst Brandan Holmes. marine insurance.

Initial estimates of the cost of rebuilding the bridge, likely to be paid by the federal government, are $600 million (CZK 13.5 billion), according to analyst firm IMPLAN. According to her, closing the port for just one month could mean a total loss of $28 million (CZK 633 million) for the state of Maryland.

Thousands of people out of work

“The disruption to the economy and the burden felt by businesses and individuals in Maryland and the Baltimore economic area will be extensive and it will likely take years before all compensation is paid to those affected,” said Julien Horn, partner for ports & terminals and logistics at insurance broker McGill and Partners.

The amazement of the port of Baltimore is still felt by the workers of the docks there. According to the trade unionists who represent them, there is no plan yet to help them.

“A total of 2,400 people will soon be out of work. Securing money for them and feeding them and their families is my main concern right now,” union leader Scott Cowan of the ILA, which represents the workers, told Bloomberg. According to him, most of them are hired and paid on an hourly basis without any guarantee of wages in a situation where the port closes.