By Mike Wackett

(The Loadstar) – Ahead of the official opening of the $5.25bn expanded Panama Canal this Sunday, the insurance coverage trade is getting ready itself for an enormous hike in danger from the rise within the worth of insured items as a consequence of the bigger ships that shall be transiting the waterway.

The new locks, which is able to create a 3rd lane of site visitors for bigger neo-Panamax ships of as much as round 13,000 teu, will enable extra transits and probably double the capability of the canal, in response to the Panama Canal Authority (ACP).

Andrew Kinsey, senior marine danger advisor at Allianz Global, stated: “The expansion is significant because it impacts the size and frequency of vessels that call on the US east and Gulf Coast ports.”

A report by the insurer stated that bigger ships and extra frequent transits may imply that as much as a further $1.25bn of insured items can be passing by the canal in any given day.

“With the increase in size of vessels transiting the canal, you have a corresponding increase in operational, environmental and commercial risks,” defined Mr Kinsey.

The report famous that “bigger ships automatically pose greater risks” in that the sheer quantity of cargo carried “dictates that a serious casualty has the potential to lead to a sizeable loss”.

The sinking of the 8,100 teu MOL Comfort after it broke its again in adversarial climate off the Yemen coast in July 2013, is thus far the most important containership to be recorded as a complete loss.

The hull and equipment of the 2008-built ship have been insured for $66m, however the greatest hit for insurers got here from the 4,300 containers, the place contents have been reported to have had an insured worth of between $50,000 and $1m, taking the estimated cargo claims to between $300m and $400m.

The 9,472 teu Cosco Shipping Panama, with a size of 300 metres and beam 48.25 metres will make the inaugural transit of the expanded Panama Canal on Sunday 26 June.

Prior to the growth the utmost dimension of vessel capable of navigate the canal was restricted by the 35-metre width of the locks permitting Panamax containerships of solely as much as round 5,100 teu to transit.

Toll revenues from Panama Canal transits have been up 4.4% in 2015, in comparison with the earlier 12 months, at $1.994bn.

Since the canal first opened in 1914 greater than 815,000 vessels have transited the waterway.

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