The grounding of the massive container ship Ever Given in the Suez Canal provided the central discussion point for this week’s Insurance News podcast.

INsight, hosted by Insurance News Managing Director Andrew Silcox, features the observations of Insurance News Publisher Terry McMullan, Managing Editor John Deex, our team of journalists, and occasional guests. You can find a new 10-15 minute episode published here every week.

The panel discussed predictions that, despite the vessel having now been refloated, the Suez Canal incident will turn into a “large loss event” for reinsurers, impacting their earnings and adding to other major events such as US winter storms and flooding here in Australia.

The issue of a new generation of mega ships presenting ever-increasing levels of risk was also considered.

Other topics on the podcast included the growing impact of the flood catastrophe in NSW and Queensland, and politicians continuing to offer unhelpful advice, plus the latest developments in the COVID business interruption legal battles.

The limits of travel insurance in a COVID-altered world were addressed, thanks to some guidance from the Insurance Council of New Zealand, and the panel speculated on whether the industry is ready for unfair contract terms to apply to insurance contracts from April 5.