Norwegian protection and indemnity mutual Skuld has launched a crew claims processing portal that promises automated payment to its members for simple crew claims.

The claims tool will allow Skuld’s members, brokers and crewing agencies to register claims details, cost and documents online.

Simple claims will be handled automatically with payment processed as “quickly as the banking system allows”, Skuld said.

The system will monitor claims and filter out those which are too complex, or exceed a certain amount. Such claims will be passed onto Skuld's claims handlers.

The system was developed by Skuld and some of its larger members and their brokers.

“Often members provide more information and documentation than is necessary, so the tool will prompt them on what type of documentation they need to provide,” Skuld's chief claims officer Mattias Hedqvist said.

“The main benefit for the member is that it is far more efficient. We have designed it in a way which fits our member's own internal processes so they can use this tool and implement it into their own systems," he said.

The idea is to cut out emails going backwards and forwards between the insurers and members in the settlement of simple crew claims. The move is also intended to improve the transparency over the claims process.

Skuld processes around 2,500 crew claims annually.

Skuld chief executive Stale Hansen said the move “revolutionises the handling of people claims”.

“Digital modernisation mutually benefits our members and industry participants, making the claims process more efficient and easily manageable,” he said.

Crew claims are a type of “reimbursement” claim, in which the shipowner pays out for the initial loss, then seeks to recover it from the P&I insurer.

Hedqvist said the scheme could be expanded to allow members to register and process similar types of reimbursement claims, such as small cargo claims.

However, while claims related to third-party liabilities could be registered on the Skuld system, processing them would prove more challenging.

“We think there definitely is potential to expand the scope. But liability cases are different, it would be a bit more difficult to automate that process fully,” Hedqvist said.