The estimated costs to Bermuda-based reinsurers in terms of possible claims and losses the industry will incur as a result of Hurricane Charley continue to rise.

Four more of the Island?s reinsurers have announced possible losses ranging from about $6 million to as much as $50 million to cover the damage caused by the storm, which raged across Florida and the Carolinas almost two weeks ago.

Of the most recent announcements, Aspen Insurance Holdings Limited appears likely to take the biggest hit.

The company announced loss estimates in the range of $35 million to $50 million after reinsurance and tax.

Chris O?Kane, chief executive officer said: ?We have received relatively little loss information from clients.

The range is therefore based on industry loss estimates and modelling results, which are inherently uncertain.?

He added that, consequently, the actual impact on losses from the hurricane could differ materially from the stated estimates.

And this is the case for all the locally-based reinsurers, as many of their clients are still in the process of assessing and reporting actual losses. Platinum Underwriters Holdings Ltd., estimated that its after-tax losses from Hurricane Charley, net of reinstatement premiums, will range from $20 million to $35 million.

Their estimates are based on the output of commercial and proprietary catastrophe models as well as consideration of total industry loss estimates that currently range from $6 billion to $10 billion. Platinum stated that based on the current industry environment, the mix of business underwritten and barring any further significant catastrophe losses this year, the company expects its 2004 earnings per diluted common share will exceed $3.75, based on an estimate of 51 million diluted shares.

Max Re Capital Ltd. announced that preliminary estimates indicate Hurricane Charley will negatively impact the company?s 2004 third quarter earnings by $6 million to $9 million.

And Quanta Capital Holdings Ltd., which provides specialty insurance, reinsurance, and risk consulting services through its affiliated companies in the US and Europe, expects to incur net after tax losses of between $12 million and $18 million in the third quarter of 2004.

The general consensus so far within the industry is that the Bermuda market will withstand these losses comfortably. But the prospect of another catastrophe of a similar magnitude as Hurricane Charley, which was a category 4 storm on the Saffir Simpson scale, would not be welcome.

Unfortunately however, as the slow clean-up and recovery from Charley takes place and reinsurance losses are being assessed, forecasters are continuing to predict above-average Atlantic hurricane activity. London?s Tropical Storm Risk (TSR), a consortium of insurance industry and academic experts, predicted on 4th August that 7.6 hurricanes will form this season.

This is up from the 6.6 they predicted in July, and compares to an annual average of 5.9 hurricanes which materialised from 1950 to 2000.

TSR based its forecast on wind speed and sea surface temperature in the tropical North Atlantic. And in a forecast issued last Friday the meteorological team at Colorado State University in Fort Collins also predicted that seven hurricanes will form this season. Both forecasters intend to issue updates in early September.