Is Transportation Insurance Keeping Up With Change?

To say that the insurance industry, and in particular the transportation insurance industry, is at a crossroads would be an understatement. The truth is that the transportation insurance industry is at the edge of a cliff and an autonomous electric semi-trailer truck, loaded with 80,000 lbs. of cargo, is driving straight at us, accelerating to 60 mph in less than 20 seconds. 

The good news is that because the semi has advanced autopilot, there is a 99.9% chance that it is not going to hit us. However, unless we acknowledge and grapple with the changes that are taking place, the transportation insurance industry will miss the opportunity to respond to the evolving needs of both existing and new clients that the semi represents.

Transportation Insurance on Contract Liability and Brokers Liability is a new paper that looks at important areas that will impact transportation clients over the next five years, and highlights potential insurance challenges, including:

1. Contractual liability – How shippers’ attitudes towards carriers’ liability for the transportation of cargo is changing. 
2. Brokers’ liability – The impact that the growth of asset-light and non-asset logistics operations is having on automobile liability cases, along with how the insurance industry is responding to this. 
3. Changing technology – The introduction of new technologies to both the insurance and the transportation industry will have a significant impact on the fundamentals of the insurance industry. 

This paper draws on Marsh expertise in logistics and transportation to address current insurance market challenges related to existing and emerging risks in the transportation industry, including contractual liability, brokers’ liability and the impact of emerging technology such as artificial intelligence, blockchain and smart contracts.