Report: XL Ship’s Lead Underwriter
The impact of the Carnival “Costa Concordia” tragedy in Italy is likely to be felt in Bermuda as the island’s XL Group plc is reportedly one of the capsized cruise ship’s chief insurers.
The ship ran aground off Italy on Friday [Jan.13] after the captain made an “unapproved, unauthorised” deviation in course, the liner’s owners say.
Six people were killed and 16 are still missing after the “Costa Concordia’s” hull was torn open.
The ship is insured by companies including XL, Generali SpA and RSA accordin to a Bloomberg report citing three people with knowledge of the policies.
The three companies are among several insurers facing total costs of about 405 million euros [$512 million] from the disaster, one of the people told Bloomberg.
Headquartered in Dublin with its executive offices in Bermuda, XL is the lead underwriter for the capsized ship at Lloyd’s of London, the market that shares claims and premiums between insurers.
Officials at XL and London-based RSA declined to comment when contacted by various media outlets.
But Hannover Re, the world’s fourth-largest reinsurer, said it will take a “major loss” exceeding 10 million euros from the wreck.
“In terms of physical damage, this will be one of biggest claims around,” said Eamonn Flanagan, an insurance analyst at Shore Capital Group Ltd. (SGR) in Liverpool, England. “Quite often with these accidents, the real insurance loss comes if people are injured or killed.”
Shares in Carnival, the company that owns the cruise ship, dropped almost 20 percent this morning [Jan.16].
The cruise operator owns the “Costa Concordia” via an Italian subsidiary.
