The collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore could lead to record marine insurance claims, according to Lloyd’s of London chief executive John Neal.

According to John Neal’s interview with Bloomberg News the incident could be recorded as one of “the largest maritime losses in history at a cost of several trillion dollars”, pointing out however that “it is a little early to say what it might actually cost”.

The bridge in Baltimore collapsed on Tuesday when the Singapore-flagged container ship Dali crashed into it, threatening to throw traffic at one of the most important ports on the US East Coast into chaos. Analysts at Barclays Plc estimate that compensation claims could arrive up to $3 billion.

In particular, insurance claims for bridge damage alone could reach $1.2 billion, it said in its note Barclays, pfurther eyeing potential liabilities of $350 million to $700 million for the deaths and yet-to-be-determined amounts for the city’s port access outages.

As for who receives the claims, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts say this will be determined by whether the accident was caused by negligence or mechanical failure” and add that “given the multiple parties involved, the settlement of any claims is likely to be complex.”

Neil said that although Lloyd’s of London insurers are involved in the coverage, the risk is spread across multiple companies.

“There are many different insurers involved in the case,” he said. “The financial power is there to deal with the issues we’re talking about.” Neal said, adding that supply chain issues can become complicated when calculating losses.

Lloyd’s reported earnings of $7.4 billion for 2023 on Thursdayup £3.3bn on the previous year due to lower costs from major risks and natural disaster claims.