According to China’s insurance regulator, the countries insurance firms will settle more than 10 billion yuan of claims related to damage caused by the Tianjin port explosion.
The Tianjin Bureau of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) said on Tuesday that 8.1 billion yuan (US $1.22 billion) of claims had already been settled by the end of 2016, but that the figure was expected to keep rising.
The Tianjin port blasts hit warehouses and dockside facilities, destroying a significant number of automobiles and shipping assets.
The Tianjin CIRC said that it expects settled claims to pass 10 billion yuan (over US $1.5 billion) before the loss is fully settled in the industry.
This is only the Chinese insurance company exposure, so does not include losses settled by international commercial and industrial insurers, or the reinsurance claims paid on marine and shipping programs.
The International Union of Marine Insurance (IUMI) said that in total around 70,000 cars had been damaged in the blasts, and the total global re/insurance loss has been estimated at between $3.5 billion (according to Swiss Re) and north of $5 billion. Some estimates even suggested the final bill could be closer to $8 billion.
The Tianjin CIRC said that the largest single loss fell to China Automobile Trading, which lost 3,000 imported vehicles in the blasts. China Continent Insurance paid 1.73 billion yuan (US $266 million) for this claims in January 2016.
The Tianjin port blasts were the largest man-made disaster related insurance and reinsurance loss of 2015.
