Internet keeps surveyor on top

By ELLEN READ

From a multimillion-dollar shipwreck to a consignment of damaged glass, marine surveyor Neil Abbott is often first on the scene. Now, thanks to broadband internet access, so are his clients.

From his home-based Manu Marine office in Kumeu, north of Auckland, Abbott is the man international marine insurance companies call when things go wrong.

He set up Manu Marine in 1997. He had spent 15 years in the Merchant Navy, followed by a couple of years working in the Middle East and 10 years as an Auckland-based insurance surveyor for Lloyd's, the world's largest marine insurance broker, based in London.

Abbott said setting up on his own was relatively straightforward - he had the contacts and reputation so just needed to create an office at home to work from.

A legal agreement with two business contacts in Australia led him to the Manu Marine name. A surveyor friend in Perth, who had set up a company with that name, suggested they, and a Sydney agent, share the name.

The three businesses are separate units but the joint name benefits them when dealing with international companies: their business cards can say Manu Marine: Auckland, Perth, Sydney.

"That gives us the Australasian spread which helps build your profile," Abbott said.

Over a year he deals with up to 1000 potential claims on behalf of global insurance companies - anything from goods missing or broken in transit, to last year's disaster when the tanker Jody F Millennium went aground off Gisborne.

As the eyes and ears of insurance companies as far afield as Tokyo, London and New York, Abbott says it is essential that he get information to and from his clients quickly.

"Increasingly, insurance companies want reports and photographs as soon as possible and they want it by email and they want it now, not two weeks later via snail mail," he says.

Before the fast internet service was available locally with the upgrade of the Kumeu exchange for Jetstream, Abbott relied on dial-up access, which was slow and had variable results, particularly when sending large files such as photographs.

"Now, I can email shipping companies in China or Brazil and ask them for copies of documentation on when goods were received by them, the condition on arrival and when they left.

"It makes it easy to go searching for information as well accessing reports and technical information on line," he says.

The evolution of portable technology has also revolutionised his business.

Last year, Abbott was one of the first on the scene when the Jody F Millennium ran aground, spilling fuel.

With a laptop, scanner and printer, he set up a temporary office in a nearby motel and, as it lacked a phone line, he used his mobile phone to link him to Japan.

"This was a very sensitive situation and the Japanese insurance company I was working for needed to know hour by hour what was happening.

"I was emailing them photographs, reports and statements from the ship's crew," Abbott says.

While he is happy with the way the business is going, he would like to employ someone else if business increases.

There are four or five competing marine surveyors in the area. The relationships between them are friendly, to the extent they will cover for one another during holidays.

"I haven't looked back [since going out on my own] and I've never wanted to."