Industry sources have said that the Bermuda reinsurance market and European reinsurers may be on the hook for much of the P&I related liability in what could now become the costliest maritime accident in history.

Reuters is quoting Lloyd’s of London chairman Bruce Carnegie-Brown that the disaster is likely to result in industrywide multibillion-dollar insurance claims, which could make it the largest single marine insurance loss.

The news agency said ship liability insurance, which covers marine environmental damage and injury, is provided through protection and indemnity insurers such as Britannia, the insurer of container ship the Dali, which rammed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland, last month.

The International Group of P&I Clubs collectively insure approximately 90 per cent of the world’s ocean-going tonnage and member P&I clubs mutually reinsure each other by sharing claims above $10 million.

The group holds reinsurance cover up to the value of $3.1 billion.

The P&I Clubs may be liable for issues such as the repair of the bridge and clearance of the wreckage, one industry source said.

Reuters was told privately: “It will be the big continental Europe and Bermuda reinsurers who will be hit. It won’t be too bad for Lloyd’s.”

The source said much would also depend on the extent of disruptions, adding that business interruption claims would also be part of the exposure with ships that were blocked.

Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in the early hours of the morning after a primary support column was struck by the container ship March 26, plunging cars into the river below.

The Dali, which was leaving the port under pilotage, was said to have lost propulsion, causing the most severe US bridge collision since the Tampa Skyway Bridge disaster in 1980.