Aon partners with marine insurtech Skytek on satellite tracking

Aon has partnered with insurtech firm Skytek to monitor insurers’ marine risks and identify areas that require enhanced underwriting and reinsurance in real time.The development was driven by the rise of major container ports and mega ships, which expose re/insurers to risk accumulation during a catastrophe. To manage this risk monitoring vessel movements and estimating cargo accumulation has become critical for insurers.

In response to this need, Aon and Skytek have launched a new consultancy based on the Skytek system, and supported by the European Space Agency, to use real-time satellite tracking. This shows the precise location of insured risks alongside crucial vessel and cargo information. Using this data, Aon will be able to analyse the potential accumulations and make recommendations specific to an re/insurer’s portfolio for efficient reinsurance programmes and underwriting insights.

Christian Silies, head of marine and energy at Aon Reinsurance Solutions business, said: “As part of Aon’s commitment to data and analytics, this insurtech partnership is focused on using innovative technologies to enhance risk management practices. As part of our development partnership, we will be taking the analysis beyond cargo and hull marine aggregation to also weave in business intelligence functionality using clients’ own data.”

Dr Sarah Bourke, CEO at Skytek, added: “The ability to take vast amounts of earth observation and space-based data and create tailored insurance products was inconceivable only a couple of years ago. These new products now open up an exciting future for deeper risk insights within the marine re/insurance world and beyond. Aon and Skytek are already developing transparent algorithms to determine cargo exposures at ports in real-time, using the latest earth observation technology alongside the latest artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.”