Maersk & Microsoft Join Blockchain Insurance Consortium

EY, Guardtime, A.P. Møller-Maersk, Microsoft and a host of insurance industry leaders have announced they are now using ‘Insurwave’, a blockchain platform to support marine hull insurance.

In an increasingly complex and ever evolving risk landscape, global businesses will use the platform to transform how they manage risk across their organization, and how they work with brokers and (re)insurers.

The move shows yet another key use of blockchain as a technology.

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Insurwave, built by a joint venture between EY and Guardtime, leverages blockchain and distributed ledger technologies Microsoft Azure infrastructure and ACORD data standards.

It will support more than half a million automated ledger transactions and help manage risk for more than 1,000 commercial vessels in the first year.

By connecting participants in a secure, private network with an accurate, immutable audit trail and services to execute processes, the platform establishes a first of its kind digital insurance value chain.

Maersk contributed to the development of the blockchain technology as a pilot client and is continuing on the platform with its marine hull portfolio.

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Lars Henneberg, A.P. Møller-Maersk A/S Head of Risk and Insurance, said: "Our ambition is to drive the digital transformation of the transport and logistics industry and we see this platform as a testament to the value that can be extracted from streamlining areas of our industry that still rely on manual and often complex procedures.

“Operating around 350 owned container vessels across the world, marine insurance takes up considerable resources for us.

“Moving it to this platform is helping us automate manual processes and alleviate a range of inefficiencies and frictional costs in the way we have used to trade marine insurance."

Matthew Kerner, General Manager, Azure Blockchain Engineering at Microsoft, said: “Blockchain is opening up new possibilities for how enterprises do business with one another, turning complex processes into cost-saving business efficiencies.

“Microsoft is thrilled to work alongside EY, Guardtime, Maersk and marine insurance industry leaders to bring this platform into production on Azure, proving the enterprise value of blockchain.”

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