EY and Guardtime have jointly launched the world’s first maritime insurance that is based on blockchain technology. The blockchain, as well as the underlying technology, were developed by Microsoft Azure and ACORD data standards. The new platform, which has been dubbed Insurwave is now available for commercial use.
The pilot phase of the project
The pilot phase of the project was launched in September 2017 and was joined by Maersk, a shipping and logistic giant from Denmark. Other players who are part of the project are XL Catlin and MS Amlin.
According to the group, the end objective of the project is to allow players in the shipping insurance industry to use distributed ledger to record their shipping data as well as automate their transactions. This is likely to bring a lot of transparency and efficiency.
At optimal use, the platform is expected to support over half a million automated ledger transactions. It will also assist in managing risk for over 1,000 commercial ships in the first year of its application. The platform will connect all players using a secure and private network, becoming the first of its kind in the digital insurance value chain.
While commenting on the development, Lars Henneberg, the head of risk and insurance at Maersk said that marine insurance, which covers about 350 owned container vessels in the world, takes up a significant amount of resources. He added that the new platform will help in automating all manual processes and improve efficiency.
Earnst & Young has announced that going forward, it will be rolling out the blockchain insurance technology to cover other forms of business insurance. These will include sectors like logistics, aviation and global energy.
Maersk is working to incorporate the technology into all its operations
Maersk has indicated that the new technology represents its efforts to integrate the technology directly into its own businesses. Currently the company has partnered with IBM to develop and deploy a global trade digitalization platform that is based on the Hyperledger Fabric 1.0 blockchain technology. This technology will be used in transacting and keeping world shipping supply chain cargo data.
