52
MARINE | GLOBAL RISK MONITORING In association with Skytek
Innovative space tech used to manage sanctions risk NASA award-winning software firm Skytek brings benefits of space technology to global marine risk monitoring as sanctions breaches rise to the top of the political agenda.
Data from outer space provides the key to problems on the seas below. From underwriting to compliance to risk, Irish space company Skytek’s award-winning Marine Aggregate Tool technology is designed to help the insurance and reinsurance sectors answer the hardest questions they face. This represents a sea change in monitoring insured assets as they traverse the globe, said Dr Sarah Bourke, CEO at Skytek, noting that it creates an environment in which insurance and reinsurance companies can more effectively monitor and control their portfolio risks. “The ability to take vast amounts of satellite, earth observation and spacebased data to create tailored insurance products has changed the landscape The Marine Insurer | March 2020
in the monitoring of insured moving assets,” she said. For underwriting it offers automated individual portfolio risk scoring, and insurers can adjust the risk score based on their individual risk appetite. Risk assessment allows for risk concentration and the provision of alerts based upon predefined criteria, and incorporated weather data. The development follows the 2019 creation of a strategic partnership with London-based Aon, the leading global insurance broker and professional services firm. In December 2019 Skytek won the European award from newspaper Lloyd’s List for its ground-breaking technology for the marine insurance industry. Crucially, the software also addresses one of the key marine threats today: An increasingly volatile global political climate. As geopolitical risks worsen and the regulatory and legal environment becomes ever more challenging, the marine insurance sector faces challenges that need to be met by new and innovative technologies. By deploying space data in real time alongside historical information, Skytek’s software is designed to combat a growing threat: Sanction breaches. This is done through customisable alerts and reporting that can be
configured to show live vessel activity in any zone of interest, be it a restricted area or one of suspicious activity. The tools also leverage historical voyage information for up to three years to learn the most commonly-used routes for navigation and identify potential deviations towards sanctioned areas. Advanced AIS ‘spoofing’ identification technology is also used to determine when a vessel is transmitting incorrect location details by identifying messages without GPS coordinates through to checking reported position against signal validation. Re/insurers have already had a shot across their bows on the issue. Both the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and the US Government have noted the important role that insurers and reinsurers can play when monitoring potential policy breaches in the marine sector by their insured hull and cargo owners. Potential breaches include illegal ship to ship transfers of oil by a sanctioned entity and the disablement of collision avoidance (AIS) trackers in
