The International Group of P&I Clubs was notified of 18 pooled claims in the last policy year estimated to cost an eye-watering $677m in total.
The figure makes 2020 a particularly costly year for pooled claims, according to figures published in Britannia P&I's recently released annual review.
The International Group’s 13 mutual protection and indemnity club members share claims over $10m in a pooled claims system.
The $677m figure reduces to a net $478m attributable to the group pool once the individual retention of the holding club is stripped out.
Britannia said the figure compares to 18 pooled claims amounting to a net $355m in the previous policy year.
Two of the claims in 2020 were cruise quarantine cases linked to the early outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
One of those is understood to be that of the 115,900-gt Diamond Princess (built 2004), which was held in the port of Yokohama following a coronavirus outbreak on board.
Britannia said the most expensive P&I claim in 2020 was the grounding of the 203,000-dwt bulker Wakashio (built 2007) off Mauritius.
The ship spilled an estimated 1,100 tonnes of bunker fuel in July last year, leading to extensive clean-up, wreck removal and environmental damage costs for P&I insurers.
Britannia warned its members that the insurance grouping would face a rise in reinsurance costs because of the high value of International Group pool claims.
This higher reinsurance cost will likely be passed onto the shipowner members at the next policy renewal.
The grounding of the 7,700-ceu car carrier Golden Ray (built 2017) at the port of Brunswick in the US has been a particularly painful one for the International Group’s reinsurers.
