Insured losses related to the Costa Concordia wreck could run as high as US$1 billion - a record for losses related to cruise ship disasters, AM Best reported in its European edition of BestWeek.
The P&I clubs will be exposed to liability claims for passengers and crew, as well as any wreck costs should the ship be declared a total loss. The estimated loss might expand if the ship's fuel were to begin to leak, since that would come under the liability cover for pollution, Catherine Thomas, director of analytics with AM Best Europe, told BestWeek.
While one P&I club may be the lead writer for a policy, any claim greater than $8 million will get pooled within the International Group of P&I Clubs, she said.
The pool is protected by external reinsurance for claims that exceed $60 million.