Why are RAT politicians so eager to throw in the American taxpayers the burden of rebuilding the bridge?
This is from CNN:
The massive cargo ship crash into Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge will likely lead to billions of dollars in liability claims. Marine insurance companies will be on the hook for much of the costs.
With various owners and companies involved – and with some maritime laws predating even the Titanic sinking – untangling the web, figuring out who owes what, and addressing the damages from both lives lost and to physical structures will be complex.
“This claim has the potential to be north of a billion dollars,” said John Miklus, the president of the American Institute of Marine Underwriters. “Litigation will run years.”
Analysts at Barclays, meanwhile, estimate total cost of insurance claims from the disaster could be as high as $3 billion.
Insurers footing the bill
The Dali ship is owned by Grace Ocean Private, a Singapore-based company, and insured by the Britannia Protection and Indemnity Club.
Britannia is one of the dozen marine insurance member clubs under the International Group of P&I Clubs, a consortium that provides marine liability coverage for 90% of ocean freight and pools liability claims among members. (The International Group of P&I Clubs did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.)
These insurance companies are backed by insurance companies of their own – a type of business known as a reinsurer.
Around 80 different reinsurers provide around $3 billion in coverage to the Dali’s insurers, according to Moody’s analyst Brendan Holmes. Since the losses will be spread across so many insurers, it’s unlikely to bankrupt any of the companies or cause a major bump in insurance prices, he said.
Miklus told CNN that these P&I insurance clubs collectively pool losses, but they also buy “an extensive reinsurance program.”
“So, when we start talking about losses of a billion or more, this is being spread through the whole global reinsurance market,” Miklus added.
How much will the rebuilding cost?
It’s still too early to know the final bill for damages and rebuilding.
The bridge alone could be worth more than $1.2 billion, said Loretta Worters, a spokesperson for the Insurance Information Institute. Then there will almost certainly be large liability suits, medical costs for survivors, clean-up costs, and more, she added.
Damage and losses to cars and clean-up from the debris and reconstruction will also factor into the total, Worters said.
Miklus cited the roughly $1.5 billion insurance payout after the Costa Concordia cruise ship was grounded on an island off Italy in 2012 as one of the highest insurance claims in recent memory. “I would expect this one would rival that kind of claim in terms of total cost,” he said.
The potential cost of insurance claims from the bridge collapse could be between $1 billion and $3 billion, analysts at Barclays wrote in a note Wednesday.
Claims for damage to the bridge alone could be some $1.2 billion, the analysts said, with wrongful death liabilities likely totaling between $350 to $700 million. The analysts also expected some to-be-determined business interruption claims.
Dali owner could invoke century-old law
While Dali is owned by Grace Ocean Private, it was chartered by Danish shipping giant Maersk when it plowed into the bridge early Tuesday morning.
When it comes to maritime law, “all the liability ends up with the ship owner, which will be the Singaporean company,” said Martin Davies, the director of the Maritime Law Center at Tulane University. “Maersk, the Danish company that has all the cargo on board the vessel, is not liable,” Davies added.
God analysis!
I would add t6hat there will be huge damages from the shipping closure of the Baltimore port.
There are thousands of jobs on hold.
There are about twenty boats stranded inside the port, unable to leave. The cost of even a day of delay in shipping industry is huge.
There are many more boats, stranded outside the port, waiting to get in. These could be re-routed, but again, the cost of delay and re-rout is pretty high.
There are cost of lost business from customers, not getting their cargo delivered on time.
That is what come to my mind, there are likely a lot more costs!
Taxpayers will pay to rebuild, then the govt will go after the ships insurance, and collect billions with which to line their pockets. If you lose money via your CA house being melted or burned to the ground, they will use taxpayer funds to partially help you, while raking every ill gotten gain the power company had into THEIR hands.
We live in a klepto/Communist system