Reinsurance rates in the marine sector continued to fall at the start of the year, in spite of the huge cost of explosions at China's Tianjin port last August, reinsurance broker Guy Carpenter said on Thursday. Rising competition to offer reinsurance and slower activity in China, were two factors depressing rates, it said. The blasts at Tianjin caused insured losses of up to $3.3 billion, Guy Carpenter has estimated, while reinsurer Swiss Re has called it the largest man-made insurance loss in Asia. The explosions killed more than 170 people. "Tianjin has had little or no impact on marine pricing," Chris Klein, head of EMEA strategy management at Guy Carpenter, told a news conference.