This new and innovative technological methodology developed by RSK Group enables the provision of efficient resources to meet current needs, while also providing transparency and adjusting the costs associated with the process.
In a complex global scenario, where numerous factors create an uncertain outlook that the fruit industry is not immune to, providing security to exporters as key players in this market becomes fundamental. A recurring issue observed in the cargo transportation and insurance business over the past decade is the high complexity and disputed logistical problems generated by port congestion and transit delays.
“We believe that insurance companies have been static in recent seasons and have demonstrated technological deficiencies and a lack of modernization,” explains Claudio Aguilar, General Manager of RSK Group. He adds that the insurance industry should have focused its attention on the processes over which it had control, such as recoveries, trying to strengthen them, and guiding insured exporters to take measures that would ultimately increase success rates. “I am sure that results and rates would have remained at acceptable levels, but mainly, it would have allowed them to face events such as the pandemic and port congestions better, without having to question the coverage or limit it in the way they have done so far.”
This, together with the significant delay in issuing inspection reports, coupled with the difficulties and inconveniences of the insurance system, led RSK Group to develop an innovative and ambitious project in the area of cargo recoveries.
This year, the group is launching a platform developed with technological methodology to the export market, which allows them to provide efficient and adjusted resources to current needs, as well as to make transparent and reduce the costs associated with the process. “There is a constant and growing concern about how the last two seasons have been faced: exclusions, limitations, and cancellations of coverage in German policies,” the executive specifies.
With an innovative vision, the company has been expanding its business, which initially focused on the administration of cargo policies, to later incorporate a global integration into its operating system, followed by the creation of a legal area with lawyers experts in maritime law and specialized in the fresh fruit market and port operations. Today they take an important step, by adding this new offer to their product portfolio, which will allow them to prepare the way from the packing for potential cargo claims.
This is the first online platform offered to RSK Group clients and ‘will allow a quick and expeditious inspection process, instant reports, at a transparent cost and adjusted to the reality we live in’, explains Aguilar. This platform has two mobile applications and a central module for cargo claims.
Box – for Stuffing: a module that allows instant generation of cargo consolidation reports and provides additional protection when formalizing a claim against a carrier. “Part of our clients’ problems stems from not having immediate access to consolidation reports or having to pay an external company for these services. The absence of this document during the recovery process gives the carrier an opportunity to question the original procedures and thereby reduce our clients’ expectations of final compensation,” explains Aguilar. With this platform, this argument disappears.
With this mobile application, exporters can effectively monitor errors in ventilation/temperature settings and generate photographic evidence that, in some cases, even allows compliance with other business-specific protocols. “In this report, we have included the minimum requirements necessary for those plants certified under the international BASC standard, and we have adapted our mobile app for Cold Treatment protocols in a multi-plant consolidation format, which requires unloading all pallets at the last plant and re-documenting the temperatures,” the executive explains.
Box – for Claims: This web module allows for the initiation of cargo claims and inspection requests. This is the central module and is currently under development, with an estimated completion date of November 2022. It will allow exporters to visualize their consolidated shipments and, through them, initiate a claim and inspection process for the cargo at destination. “It is a state-of-the-art tool that incorporates Google Maps and will not only allow us to find available inspectors in areas near the inspection point but also to calculate the estimated cost based on traffic, distance, and time used,” says Aguilar. This will provide a highly accurate, transparent cost estimate adjusted to the hourly rate in each geographic area. It will also enable interaction between the exporter and the inspector to receive specific instructions, as well as the immediate issuance of the report through the same platform, without the intervention of third parties.
Additionally, each client will be able to track each of their recovery processes, either directly against carriers or through insurance companies. These companies can also use this platform if they seek to reduce inspection costs and improve success rates in recovery processes, the stage following the indemnification of their insured parties.
Box – for Surveyors: a mobile app for inspectors, that will allow them to receive nominations and, subsequently, carry out the inspection process online. Inspectors will be able to apply and validate themselves on this platform as natural persons, as long as they have the necessary qualifications to carry out perishable cargo inspections. They will be able to apply online through a webpage and in this way be part of this global network of inspectors. Finally, Aguilar indicates, “this platform will allow the generation of a large number of jobs, free of schedules, offices and time used in generating an inspection report
