Otonomi Insurance Services LLC, a licensed managing general agent, Tag-N-Trac, and Solent Freight Services have together launched a parametric cargo protection programme, TRACinSURED, to cover perishable cargo.
The solution combines Tag-N-Trac’s AI-powered, infrastructure-independent real-time data, Otonomi’s delay and visibility data, and Solent’s air freight network, so covered events can be verified and settled quickly and efficiently.
In a statement, the firms said, “The aim is a claim that does not need to be argued, because it has already been observed.”
Otonomi designs and administers the coverage under delegated authority from A-rated securities that underwrite it. The firm’s parametric cargo product pays a pre-agreed amount on defined, measurable events, using smart contracts and decentralised data oracles to verify triggers.
Solent is a neutral freight forwarder headquartered at JFK International Airport that provides the freight systems and the network.
It operates as a virtual airline across over 137 airports and sells freight services to more than 7,600 freight forwarding clients across the Americas and Europe. It makes the TRACinSURED shipment record available on live commercial lanes and express courier flows.
Tag-N-Trac provides AI, platform, IoT devices and technology. Its smart labels and trackers monitor location, temperature, shock, humidity, light and tamper events at item, carton and pallet level, and its AI flags exceptions in transit through the delivery. The output is a continuous, tamper-evident condition record that serves as the data source for policy triggers.
The trio confirmed that covered delays and temperature excursions are designed to settle quickly once a trigger is verified, without after-the-fact evidence gathering.
Otonomi issues a parametric policy against a predetermined trigger, which includes covered events, such as a defined MAWB delay or a temperature or humidity excursion (non-parametric coverage, proof of loss required), and the fixed payout for each is agreed in advance.
Yann Barbarroux, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Otonomi, commented, “Parametric insurance lives or dies on whether the triggering data is trustworthy enough that no one needs to dispute it. Transit delay was a trigger we could already write. Tag-N-Trac’s sensor feed, with Solent’s operational context, lets us price a lane rather than a declared value. That is what makes our settlement process so fast.”
Simon Milne, CEO, Solent, added, “Solent has spent more than 30 years handling fresh-cut flowers, fruits, pharmaceuticals and other highly perishable cargo where temperature, timing and visibility can determine whether a shipment succeeds or fails. “For years, we — along with the transportation industry worldwide — have been looking for a way to bring shipment tracking, temperature monitoring and delay protection together in one simple, powerful package.
“TRACinSURED brings those capabilities together in a way that has enormous potential across the transportation industry, air cargo, ocean freight, courier and express and beyond. When real-time shipment data can be connected directly to protection and rapid resolution, the possibilities are virtually limitless.”
Venu Gutlapalli, Co-Founder and Chief Digital Officer, Tag-N-Trac, said, “We have been helping our customers for years now, answering their questions about when and where their shipment went wrong. TRACinSURED is the first time that telling them is worth money to them. A temperature alert is not a claims file. We maintain the chain of custody for that data, because if an underwriter cannot rely on the record, the rest of the product does not matter.”
Currently, TRACinSURED is in early access for international commercial shippers, covering pharmaceutical and cold chain, high-value perishables, electronics, and business-to-business parcel shipments moving through Solent’s air freight and express courier network.
