Sid Beeton, Divisional Transport Manager, ONE Insurance Underwriting Managers
HCV/GIT Underwriting
The carriage of road freight for reward operates in an extremely high-risk environment in South Africa and our surrounding territories.
Transporters face high levels of crime, looting from accident sites, violent protests and bad road surfaces.
As a leading HCV underwriter, we offer composite options of cover which include Motor, GIT and Pollution and Spillage clean up insurance solutions as well as a wide range of add-ons such as excess buy-downs and access to Telematics solutions via our One Automotive partnership.
Looting
The level of looting by communities due to the high level of poverty and unemployment has turned many partial losses into total losses as any loss however minor and whatever the product becomes an opportunity to loot if the site of the accident is in the vicinity of human settlements. The extensive looting that occurred during the July insurrection in KZN and Gauteng and the lack of response by authorities has emboldened the general populace who take little notice of the presence of SAPS at accident sites.
A swift response is a must and this requires active tracking and impact alerts linked to call centre availability with links to security service providers.
Coal Swopping
Due to the current logistical challenges following the collapse of rail transport to ports for export, the average price of coal has reduced substantially from its high price levels in 2022 and this has reduced the incidence of this form of theft. That is not to say that this loss cause is not still a risk factor for coal transporters. Tracking of loads and alarm notifications, when drivers deviate from set routes, is essential to prevent these losses.
High Risk Commodities
Commodities such as Fuel, Copper, Electronics, Lithium batteries and Solar panels are some of the commodities which are high risk to transport and additional security measures are an absolute requirement. Such measures include travelling in convoys, having armed escorts, good communication on route and active tracking.
Load Shift
Due to the state of our National roads, this loss cause has become more common. We require that the load be adequately secured in order to prevent loss or damage due to load shift or falling from the carrying vehicle. In this respect, the load should be secured so that it can sustain normal road hazards and this includes sharp braking and the taking of evasive action to prevent collisions.
Customers of our insured clients often dictate the method of securing loads to support easy offloading for multiple delivery sites and this does not always meet our requirements for adequate securing of the load. As our first priority is to provide comprehensive cover for our Transport clients, we have introduced a load shift extension which is not for full value but which does offer a reasonable level of protection in such circumstances.
Contractual Settlements.
The market is which our clients operate is very competitive and there are a number of customers who take advantage of this by securing Transport contracts with very favourable claim settlement provisions which are not necessarily linked to the actual financial loss suffered by the customer.
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The customer also often controls the financial recovery from Transporters as they merely deduct the loss from the revenue stream, which can leave the Transporter short if the loss is settled by his insurer without due consideration to the actual transport contract settlement clause. For this reason, we offer multiple basis of settlements including a settlement linked to contractual obligations.
In the current risk environment and as a risk mitigation factor, we cannot stress sufficiently, the importance of Telematics and the preventative role that this can play. Most transporters have Telematics of some sort in their vehicles and the insurance industry has pushed the agenda of Tracking and Recovery devices as a minimum security level for theft of vehicles and in some instances, the loads that are carried.
This entry-level of basic tracking is no longer sufficient to mitigate loss.
The latest technology available via Vehicle Telematics provides much more than mere tracking with a recovery response when alerted by the client.
Video technology now includes facial recognition, unauthorised passenger warnings, alerts for texting and use of cell phones without hands free operation whilst driving, fatigue alerts, rear facing cameras to assist in the prevention of fuel and goods thefts from loaded conveyances whilst parked and many other applications.
Importantly, these alert notifications must be controlled via a 24/7 incident management centre to be an effective risk prevention measure.
At One Insurance we incentivise our Transport clients to buy into the latest technology by offering discounted pricing on hardware, premium rebates and additional benefits such as Hijack excess waiver and a competitive monitoring service via our One Automotive partnership.
Prevention is our mantra and we believe that the Telematics offerings via One Automotive provide a high degree of risk management.
In the hostile and difficult risk environment in which they operate, Transport contractors need to invest in Telematics that are a vital cog in risk prevention