Tahan to double marine cargo insurance business

Published by The Star (Business)

TAHAN Insurance Malaysia Bhd aims to double its marine cargo insurance business to RM6mil from RM3mil currently by next year, said chief operating officer Chong Wai Hong.

He said it was Tahan's plan to reduce its dependence on motor insurance from the current 65:35 motor to non-motor mix to 49:51 within three years.

“We want to move and diversify from the motor business, which is why we are focusing on marine cargo, healthcare and foreign workers insurance,” he told reporters after the soft launch of e-Cargo Insurance in Petaling Jaya yesterday.

Tahan views these segments as “greenfield” as it believes it can offer innovative solutions and services. At present, the marine cargo insurance business has a clientele base of about 1,500.

Chong said the local marine cargo insurance industry was worth about RM357mil and this offered opportunities for the company to grow its business.

He said the company's five-year plan would be to grow the marine cargo business to represent 10% of its product portfolio.

Tahan's latest offering, e-Cargo Insurance, was developed in collaboration with Dagang Net Technologies Sdn Bhd at a cost of about RM1.5mil.

It is a web-based service that facilitates the purchase of marine cargo insurance without the need of membership fees or any monthly minimum fee. The service will enable freight forwarders, importers, exporters, insurance brokers and agents to handle all their cargo insurance needs online.

Registered users would be able to generate and electronically print their insurance policies for individual shipments as well as certificates for marine open cover insurance contracts through their web browser.

“A lot of customers are comfortable in dealing with agents face to face. But we also are targeting those who want to move to an electronic medium. It will be an option for the customer,” said Chong.

e-Cargo Insurance will be deployed in three phases. The first phase will be launched on Dec 1 while the second phase will be online by year-end. Phase three, involving the facilitation of online payments, will be available by the second quarter of 2006.

Chong said Dagang Net was in the midst of getting all the anchor banks on board to facilitate online payment services.

Dagang Net chief executive officer Saifol Shamlan added that Tahan would be able leverage on its customer base of over 3,000 manufacturers, forwarders, shipping agents, and banks to grow its business.

He said the company handled RM1.8bil worth of electronic customs duty payments and about 40 million electronic document transfers annually between the local and international trading community.