Loadsure – Meet the Company

Johnny McCord, founder of Loadsure, introduces the company and shares why they have partnered with flycovr.

Loadsure are working with flycovr, to provide accessible more sustainably-priced insurance products to the aviation industry. “Traditional insurance products are very one-dimensional. It’s almost like trying to fit a triangle into a box. It’ll fit, but not all the needs are met. With the insights of flycovr we have evolved the products to be far more effective for the aviation market.”

When was Loadsure founded and how did the idea behind it come about?

I founded the company back in November 2018. Prior to that I was a London market insurance broker with 20 years’ experience in the freight industry. I learned what the pain points of the freight industry were and became very passionate about serving them.

The freight industry and the insurance market haven’t really evolved at the same pace in terms of technology. This created huge global underinsurance which has now reached crisis point. More than 60% of cargo in transit is underinsured, and that’s due to a cumbersome insurance approach. It has not traditionally been able to serve the freight industry’s SMBs (small and medium businesses) which make up a huge proportion of the industry.

I wanted to solve this problem and ultimately revolutionise the way that we distribute, underwrite and settle claims for the freight industry as a whole. I did that by building a fully digital end-to-end insurance platform that provides AI-powered pay-as-you-go freight insurance products that can be purchased in 40 seconds or less.

Loadsure is the insurtech solution to the supply chain underinsurance crisis – what is your holistic approach to freight protection? Is it really all-risk global coverage?

Ultimately our platform provides a risk transfer mechanism: purchasing a policy to cover shipments going from A to B. What we’re here to do is provide more value to the communities we sell to. By purchasing cover when and if they need it, they can protect their balance sheets and focus on their day-to-day business.

We’ve tapped into the industry’s data to create one of the most advanced machine learning rating algorithms in the world – to provide a better understanding of the risk profile. It’s holistic because it’s becoming more than a risk transfer mechanism.

Our aim is to use that data to provide insights on risk exposures to our clients, enabling them to make better decisions. It means they can mitigate a loss from occurring in the first place. We strongly believe that active risk management will become more important than the actual insurance paper itself.

How are these insurances underwritten? How does the process work?

We become embedded in the workflow of the digital freight industry, whether that’s a transportation management system, a marketplace or a load board. We provide distribution through those platforms and, from an underwriting standpoint, we use very rich, previously untapped data, especially in the aftermarket of the aviation industry.

We’ve captured new real-time data to provide clear risk profiles with unprecedented granularity – and that enables us to accurately price at shipment level based on very detailed rating attributes. Ultimately it means we can provide far more cost-effective pay-as-you-go insurance.

Does this make it cheaper and faster to get insurance?

It’s so granular. It’s dependent on the number of rating attributes; it depends on the type of equipment commodity being moved from A to B; the duration; the season; the equipment types… you name it.

That enables us to analyse the actual shipment and give a specific rate, while removing the human involvement in purchasing and underwriting that policy. That way, we’ve reduced the human expense cost in the premium – and that saving is passed on to our customers in providing a far more cost-effective, transactional product.

Why have you decided to work with flycovr?

It’s all about their expertise. To provide more accessible, more sustainable insurance products to any industry, you need to really understand the ins and outs of that industry. Without that knowledge, you’re never going to be able to achieve the value proposition that’s needed.

Flycovr’s knowledge and insights – and also their network – is crucial in distributing insurance to the right partners. But on top of that, their creativity and innovation will help us evolve our products.

Traditional insurance products are very one-dimensional. It’s almost like trying to fit a triangle into a box. It’ll fit, but not all the needs are met. With the insights of flycovr we have evolved the products to be far more effective for the aviation market.

How can your products support flycovr in its aim to solve underinsurance in the aviation market?

Ultimately this global undersurance crisis affects every industry. The aftermarket sector and the whole industry that flycovr addresses is focused on the movement of parts globally. And as we’ve already mentioned, more than 60% of goods in transit are underinsured.

Loadsure is here to support and address that underinsurance element. But this isn’t just a niche commercial problem. We’re all affected by this crisis. Look at Covid-19; the Ever Given in the Suez canal; geopolitical instability and, of course, the war in Ukraine.

These events have put huge stress on the global supply chain that affects all industries. Instability and the unnecessary exposure to risk then actually affects the price of goods in transit. These are the goods that we rely upon every day – you know how important the aviation industry is to the global supply chain.

So we’re here supporting the aftermarket, providing insurance to protect and enable the industries to grow whilst we’re faced with these global problems.

How do your products differ from what flycovr commonly sees in the market for aviation businesses?

It’s a very complex industry, the aviation market, and we’re only focusing on an element within that – the supply chain element. Our pipeline will continue to evolve when it comes to products that support the aviation aftermarket industry.

Moving parts and different equipment types in a Just-In-Time environment is very difficult. The right insurance coverage is not readily available which means that the aviation industry runs the risk of complete or partial exposure. The carrier’s liability policy typically has many exclusions and ultimately pays a penny on the dollar in the event of a claim.

Our product can be purchased as and when you need it – just in time. Whether it’s related to a project or a catastrophe where an emergency piece of equipment or part is needed, at the same time as arranging that freight you have the ability to instantly purchase insurance to protect the goods whilst in transit.

That’s very different to what the traditional market does. It means there’s no need to depend upon large annual covers ultimately aimed at large Enterprise accounts – which are very expensive upfront.

Which Loadsure products are accessible via flycovr? Who are they designed to support?

We have a growing range of products available today. They are uniquely named after rivers and lakes. Our dynamic ocean cargo insurance is our Danube product, providing minimum premiums for annual ocean cargo policies. It is increasingly difficult for SMBs to access cost effective coverage.

Then we have our dynamic shippers interest insurance, Orinoco. This is our answer to unnecessarily time-consuming shippers interest policies. We provide limits of up to £2,000,000 enabling the assured to buy shipments and pay for the premium directly. That obviously saves time and hassle.

We also have a dynamic on-demand shippers interest programme which is being rolled out with flycovr first of all. This is our Thames product, which provides fast, cost-effective, per load coverage. Again, the traditional insurance processes just don’t offer that.

Our Thames product empowers insurers to provide intensive quotes in just 40 seconds to create a one-off policy. It’s very profitable without the painful experiences of the traditional insurance market.

Finally we have Huron, our stock-throughput insurance. The purpose of this policy is to give customers’ assured goods the highest level of protection. It covers goods all the way from production to the final destination. This add-on product can be purchased alongside any cargo policy that we sell and offers coverage up to £10,000,000 in any location for goods in transit.

We’re dragging insurance into the 21st century. The freight insurance market is a 300 year old institution. We’re taking it forward, evolving it and simplifying it to provide better products for the communities that we serve.

How easy is it for customers to navigate and use these products?

flycovr clearly identified that there was no insurance marketplace for the aviation industry, especially the aftermarket. flycovr now provides distribution to this industry. Being embedded in this marketplace ultimately enables us to provide AI powered pay-as-you-go freight insurance products in 40 seconds or less. Plus, once the process is embedded directly within digital workflows it can be purchased in under a second.

How does your pricing work? Is the claims process also fully digital?

We mentioned previously that we use very granular data to underwrite accurately and cost effectively. With our digital end-to-end platform, we’re constantly analysing that data in our algorithms to ensure we’re providing the best price, every time.

In providing that best price, we’ve obviously also got to analyse claims data as well. To collect claims data you have to experience those claims in the first place. So this is an ongoing journey with our algorithm. It will never be finished. It will always evolve and learn and that’s why data is so key to us.

From a claims standpoint, we’re digital natives end-to-end. We settle our claims by simplifying the traditionally intensive process of claims handling. We enable a near real-time claim settlement process through our AI driven claim solution. Ultimately we allow clients to get back to business and focus on their day job, leaving us to handle everything through our technology.

Anything else you’d like to add about Loadsure?

I’m just super excited to be serving a very important industry through the partnership with flycovr. We’re hugely impressed by the work that the flycovr team is doing. Louis and Sam are very passionate about continuing to support the aftermarket and this platform is very important to us from a distribution standpoint.

We’re here to serve, bringing trust and simplicity back into insurance to protect clients, not saturate thin margins.