Shipping giant Maersk has established its own insurance company to handle its risk management.
Maersk said that the captive, Maersk-Insurance, has led to a dramatic decline in the amount paid out to insurers of around $100 million per year.
Lars Henneberg, head of risk management, Maersk Group, said: “We have a big balance sheet and can retain a lot of risk ourselves. It means we don’t have to pay a premium to the external insurance market.”
Typically, losses below $1 million are taken on by the business unit, while the group will take on losses of up to $50 million.
“Insurance is not the solution to protecting our assets,” said Henneberg. “We need to do something about our losses and not let others pay for them.”
“It is a change in mindset, as today we focus less on risk transfer or buying insurance, and more on risk improvement. This means loss-prevention activities, assessing our exposure to certain risks and how prepared we are for when things do go wrong.”