Helping marine clients chart a better course

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In an increasingly complex world for marine, NTI, Australia’s largest marine insurance specialist, helps customers avoid drifting rudderless, while reducing claims and saving costs at the same time

THE BROADER marine insurance markets of cargo insurance, carriers’ insurance, marine hull and marine liability covered by NTI have been buoyed globally by the post-pandemic resurgence in trade volumes and values, and the gradual resolution of supply chain issues. But at the same time, factors like geopolitical tensions and expectations that more severe weather is ahead are tempering the outlook. The complexity of the moving parts involved as well as practices and nomenclature that date back hundreds of years in some areas often mean that a general broker can be lost overboard when it comes to fully understanding the intricacies of marine insurance. “We find that for a lot of brokers, marine isn’t core to their skill set. Marine is usually a small part of a broker’s portfolio

The vehicles, vessels and equipment NTI’s customers rely on have become safer, faster and cleaner. The cargoes they carry are now more delicate and time-sensitive than ever before. With over 50 years’ experience in the insurance industry, NTI has always been successful in finding new ways to keep its customers moving, across the heavy vehicle, mobile plant and equipment and marine industries. Its combination of tailored products, experienced people, accredited repair and recovery networks and industry advocacy has seen NTI ranked as Australia’s number one specialist insurer. Yet insurance is just a piece of paper, a promise. It’s not until you really need an insurer that you understand its point of difference – the NTI Difference.

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US$20.5bn (+8.3% YoY)

Total global cargo premiums 2022

“[We want to be] seen as a value-add, seen as an investment not an expense”

Dan Morrison, NTI

unless they’re a specialist marine broker, so they rely on us quite a lot,” says NTI’s head of marine, Dan Morrison. If a broker’s focus and knowledge are centred in less specialist areas, it can be difficult to give practical advice – nobody wants to look like they are all at sea, so to speak. “Having somebody who can say, ‘this is the best way to talk to your customer’, or ‘these are the things that customers should focus on when they’re shipping goods’, or simply knowing the things to provide some advice on as they work with a customer [is important],” Morrison says. Insurance has long battled negative perceptions that it’s a taker, not a giver, which does it no favours when the economy is putting the squeeze on businesses – especially when this reputation is undeserved. “One thing I think a lot about is, how do we turn that around? [We want to be] seen as a value-add, seen as an investment not an expense,” says Morrison.

Perhaps NTI’s flagship practice in this strategy is its risk engineering program. The insurance provider employs risk engineers across its specialist lines, and some are making a big splash when it comes to impressing customers. For Morrison, having a risk engineer out in the field is invaluable for the marine portfolio he oversees. “We have somebody who looks at issues from a physical exposure standpoint and talks to customers in a language that they understand,” he says. With a logistics and freight forwarding background, the marine risk engineer has very specific knowledge about best practice when it comes to shipping everything from T-shirts to tomatoes both nationally and internationally. “Instead of looking at things from an insurance angle, that brings us to a position where we are looking at it from a contract perspective – looking at numbers and clauses,” Morrison says.

the situation but also with the collaborative attitude on display. “Sometimes you have risk engineers who try to dictate to the client, ‘you’ve got to do this, you got to do that’, but in this instance he was very much like, ‘no, no, we’ll work with you’,” Mathews recalls. “The risk engineer came across to the client like, ‘I’m here to assist, I’m part of your business, I want to help you identify and mitigate these losses but also to put procedures in place to stop these claims happening again’.” The result is that clients see their relationship with NTI as a real partnership with a more tangible aspect of the insurance provided. These kinds of wins count for more when money is tight, as it is in the current economy. “[For SMEs] it makes a difference in terms of in terms of managing their costs,” Morrison says. “Preventing claims is one way the customer wins, and understanding and improving the performance and underlying exposure of a customer is key to helping manage their insurance cost.”

The end result of having an expert in your back pocket is that a customer’s business can be improved by having NTI as the insurer, due to all the free advice available. “Our core focus is helping our customers deliver to their customers,” Morrison says. “The more often you deliver safely, [the more] your customers are going to continue to buy from you.” The fact that the business improvement helps manage the premium level is the icing on the cake.

“[Risk engineering] really is about managing cost – this is something we’re very aware of at the moment with the economic situation. Having somebody who can provide additional services, specific advice from an industry perspective, and provide feedback to us, either helping reduce claims or helping us understand the exposure and provide more accurate pricing and products that align to a customer’s needs … and help customers manage cost is really important,” Morrison says. Another area in which NTI provides extra value throughout its marine portfolio is in the service provided by its in-house recovery team. When a loss occurs, NTI will first take care of its customer but then seek to recover the loss from any parties responsible. It also has a protocol in place where, if a 70% recovery is achieved, the clients will receive their deductible back, giving them a better opportunity to recoup all costs incurred for the loss. Like the risk engineering, this benefit is an additional NTI service that helps manage insurance costs. “[It is] expertise to help a customer’s understanding, particularly of international logistics, how to hold parties responsible and how to get money back from responsible parties,” says Morrison. The NTI team will be across the claim from the start, so up to speed on the issues. With an external company, the transfer of information may take time and also incur a charge for a percentage of whatever they get back. “So, if it's not worth their time, they may not invest a lot of effort.” This service also wins high praise from brokers, who sometimes put pressure on other insurers to step up their game. “NTI’s recovery team are experts in their field and will not hesitate to take the time to walk not only brokers but also clients through the recovery process, realistic recovery prospects, potential time frames, and help maintain the clients’ expectations of receiving a deductible refund,” says Sarah Kennedy, senior claims executive at Arthur J. Gallagher & imar. “NTI recoveries are willing to meet with clients to understand the clients’ stake in the recovery and why it is important to the client that recovery is or isn’t pursued. As a broker, all of the above helps us to manage our clients’ expectations and provide them with clear advice throughout the process, which overall results in a smoother process.” Morrison sees this kind of extra for marine customers as something that isn’t easily implementable at rivals. Because marine is something of a niche area for larger generalist insurers, going this extra mile with a value-added service may not be a strategic priority for them. “They are less focused on marine as a mainstay part of the business, whereas NTI is willing to commit resources. We get a lot more attention [for marine] at NTI; we get a lot more ability to invest, to be innovative in our products.”

According to an IUMI (International Union of Marine Insurance) outlook for 2023 and beyond, other emerging risks for marine include an expected rise in claims; ageing fleets; rising energy costs; and the potential for larger natural catastrophes on the back of climate change, to name a few. At least one industry expert is warning that the global sector may be sailing into a hurricane in the years ahead. With more change and uncertainty globally, a readily available expert like a risk engineer may offer insureds more value by helping them mitigate some of the risks looming on the radar to a larger degree than a few years ago. While some other insurers also offer risk engineering services, these often have to be flown in from places like Singapore or elsewhere in Asia. “A big point of difference is that NTI do actually have these guys here, based locally in Australia,” says Mathews. Because as every experienced captain knows, making critical decisions at sea almost always requires local knowledge and advice.

Aerial top view container ship full load container for logistics. Marine insurance.

Risk engineering helping bottom lines

Looking ahead globally and locally

Published 09 Oct 2023

“[Risk engineering] really is about managing cost – this is something we’re very aware of at the moment with the economic situation”

Dan Morrison, NTI

Total global hull premiums 2022

US$8.4bn (+5.7% YoY)

Source: International Union of Marine Insurance

The practical implications for businesses are enormous in terms of cost savings. Morrison recalls one case in which a client had a contamination problem that resulted in multimillion-dollar claims over several years. When NTI sent in its risk engineer to give some advice, not only was the contamination issue resolved satisfactorily but it also gave NTI the opportunity to better understand the customer and their operations and to build on the relationship. The broker involved – client director Jason Mathews at Aon in Perth – was impressed not only with NTI’s obvious commitment to improving

More bang for your insurance buck

Inflation, regulatory change and the weaknesses of the ‘just in time’ model of global logistics revealed by the pandemic, against a background of recovering trade, are some the issues Morrison is flagging as challenges for the marine sector in Australia. There has also been a growing focus on environmental sustainability in shipping, and new international maritime law on what types of fuels vessels can use – as well as momentum towards the International Maritime Organization fully decarbonising international shipping by 2050. “Now you’ve got to be across all the other obligations that we have from compliance and our legislative perspective, and much more across how the business operates in those environments,” says Morrison.

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