From Dark Voyages to Defensible Claims: How Marine Insurers Are Closing the Evidence Gap

Claims teams in marine insurance own two things: the loss investigation and the pay-or-reject decision. In the pre-2022 environment, both were largely a matter of establishing what happened, verifying that the loss fell within the policy’s coverage, and processing accordingly. AIS records, cargo documentation, and standard loss adjustment supported the investigation without requiring extensive forensic reconstruction.

In 2026, that has shifted. Claims investigations increasingly begin with the question of what actually happened during a defined period, because the AIS record from that period may not answer it reliably. Vessels operating in jamming-affected regions may have broadcast injected coordinates rather than actual positions. Vessels that were dark did not broadcast at all. Reconstructing the actual voyage is the analytical work claims teams now do before the pay-or-reject decision becomes possible.

1. The AIS Reliability Problem at Claims The historical premise of AIS-based loss investigation is that AIS records reflect what vessels actually did. That premise has been under pressure since 2022 and has become materially unreliable in 2026 for specific regions and activity types.

This story was originally published by Hellenic Shipping News. Read the full story at Hellenic Shipping News →