Insurers brace for $3bn Beirut blast bill

Insurers are bracing for a bill from the Beirut port blast similar to $3bn hit they took in the wake of the Tianjin explosions five years ago.

While Beirut’s explosions last Tuesday were larger than the accident that hit the Chinese port on August 12 2015, the cargoes destroyed in Tianjin were more expensive, including thousands of cars. The Tianjin port blasts are believed to have triggered the largest port-related insurance claims in peacetime history.

The huge ammonia nitrate explosion that hit Beirut’s port left a 43 m deep crater where the warehouse that housed the dangerous chemical used to exist. Ports around the world are actively checking their own ammonia nitrate storage capabilities in recent days.