Struggling underwriters are set to be hit with the biggest hull claim ever following a catastrophic fire at the Lurssen shipyard in Germany that destroyed a luxury yacht.
The fire which broke out Friday destroyed a 100-metre luxury yacht under construction at the yard.
The builders risk policy taken out in 2014 to the tune of $700m was shared between Lloyd’s syndicate underwriters and the non Lloyd’s market.
It is now set to be the largest single hull claim since the cruise ship Costa Concordia hit the rocks of Giglio Island in 2012.
The massive claim will come as yet another massive blow to the marine hull market which has been hit by over capacity and has struggled to push up rates.
The woes of the market is the headline topic at a gathering of underwriters at the International Union of Marine Underwriteres (Iumi) conference in Cape Town this week although the Lurssen disaster and its implications for the hull market were neatly avoided.
The conference heard statistics that hull premiums continued to slide despite a growing world fleet.
The saving grace of the hull market has been a low claims environment that is until the Lurssen fire.
