Insurwave, a blockchain platform developed by a collaboration of insurance and technology players, is being used to help manage marine hull risk and insurance, according to Ernst & Young L.L.P., which helped build the platform.

Together with Guardtime, a blockchain technology company founded in Estonia in 2007, shipper A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, Microsoft Inc., broker Willis Towers Watson P.L.C., XL Group Ltd. doing business as XL Catlin, MS Amlin P.L.C and the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development, EY has helped develop and launch Insurwave, which was built by a joint venture between EY and Guardtime, Ernst & Young said Friday in a statement.

Insurwave was built on Corda, the blockchain platform created by R3CEV L.L.C., according to a separate statement from R3 provided to Business Insurance.

Insurwave will be able to create and maintain asset data from multiple parties; to link data to policy contracts; to receive and act on information that results in a pricing or a business process change; to connect client assets, transactions, and payments; and to capture and validate up-to-date first notification or loss data, the R3 statement said, providing both reduced costs and compliance burden.

“Corda integrates and secures the entire stream of disparate data sources involved in insurance, while simultaneously ensuring transparency across an interconnected network of clients, brokers, insurers and other third parties,” Ryan Rugg, who leads the insurance practice at R3, said in the statement.

Insurwave, using Microsoft Azure infrastructure and data standards from global insurance industry organization ACORD, is expected to support more than half a million automated ledger transactions and help manage risk for more than 1,000 commercial vessels in the first year, EY said in its statement.

“Smart contracts can be written so Insurance coverage can be given near real time. Admin is reduced significantly as approvals are given electronically. Certificates are issued and prospectus data captured in standardized and approved electronic forms. Insurers get access to substantially more data than previously to write better, faster and accurate pricing of risk,” Shaun Crawford, EY Global Insurance Leader, told Business Insurance in an email.

Maersk served as a pilot client for the system and is continuing on the platform with its marine hull portfolio, the statement said

“Operating around 350 owned container vessels across the world, marine insurance takes up considerable resources for us,” Lars Henneberg, head of risk and insurance for Maersk, said in the statement. “Moving it to this platform is helping us automate manual processes and alleviate a range of inefficiencies and frictional costs in the way we have used to trade marine insurance.”

“This represents an important milestone not only for the insurance industry but also for blockchain technology, proving it can deliver real value to enterprise customers,” Mike Gault, Guardtime CEO, said in the statement.

While the first phase of Insurwave is focused on marine insurance, EY, Guardtime and Microsoft plan to roll out the system to other types of business insurance for the marine cargo, global logistics, aviation and energy sectors, the statement said.

“This solution represents a true innovation for insurance and demonstrates the potential of blockchain for transforming our industry,” Bill Pieroni, president and CEO of ACORD, said in the statement. “We are happy to be part of this initiative as it makes an impact across all insurance stakeholders and the entire value chain.”

 “Ultimately, through the use of (the internet of things) and smart contracts, policies will be updated automatically to reflect the risks covered; and this combination of technologies will help improve efficiency in claims assessment and payment,” Martin Henley, chief information officer of XL Catlin, said in the statement. “And with the platform going live, we are now ready to start working on opening it up to other insurance segments.”

Blockchain solutions are gaining traction in the insurance sector as different combinations of industry players bring new products and processes to market.

“This is the first insurance transaction that has been undertaken through blockchain, simplifying and streamlining the transactional process and creating added value for our clients,” Alastair Swift, CEO of Willis Towers Watson Great Britain, said in the statement. “We strongly believe this is an industry dynamic and that all carriers and brokers should engage in blockchain to drive improved transactional efficiency and innovation for our clients.”

“Blockchain is opening up new possibilities for how enterprises do business with one another, turning complex processes into cost-saving business efficiencies,” Matthew Kerner, general manager for Azure blockchain engineering at Microsoft, said in the statement.