Insurance provider Travelers Inland and its Risk Control Unit have developed an initiative with Celevoke that will allow Travelers customers to purchase Celevoke's LunarEYE Wireless Asset Tracking and Control systems at a discount. By teaming with Celevoke, Travelers hopes to reduce the likelihood and severity of losses for its customers by improving the security and tracking of construction and other heavy equipment.

"Travelers Inland is well aware that theft is a regular occurrence that plagues heavy equipment owners and trucking companies across the country," says Joseph Tracy, chief underwriting officer, Travelers Inland. "We want to proactively help manage our customers' risk. The losses these companies suffer affect both their balance sheets as well as ours. We are excited to work with Celevoke, as we see significant value and risk control benefits in the equipment recovery and management systems offered by the LunarEYE system."

By utilizing GPS and other security and tracking technologies, customers can both reduce their losses and lower their premiums. Travelers has developed partnerships with a number of technology providers, such as LoJack, to provide discounts to its customers.

"If we see customers who have experienced losses, we promote that we can help them with risk control," Tracy says. "If they invest in these types of programs for their company, they can reduce losses and lower their rates."

"Working with Travelers is a significant development for our company and we look forward to assisting Travelers and its insureds in reducing theft losses," said Chuck Allen, Celevoke's CEO. "As a leader in GPS tracking and asset recovery, it is important that we align ourselves with companies that understand our products and services and the benefits that we can bring to them and their customer base."

Additionally, Celevoke will develop a secure Web site that will allow Travelers' customers to track, monitor and manage the equipment outfitted with Celevoke's proprietary GPS devices on a daily basis. In the event of a theft, the ability to track equipment can lead to faster recovery.

Heavy equipment theft is increasing in the United States, and several major theft rings have been uncovered in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and other states in the past few years. Reports to the Insurance Services Office (ISO) show an increase of up to 20% in the value of equipment thefts each year since 1996, with loses totaling hundreds of millions of dollars.

"This equipment is often left unattended at job sites, and a lot of dozers and backhoes have common keys, depending on the manufacturer," says Chris Carey, risk control manager for Travelers Inland Marine. "The penalties for stealing heavy equipment are generally minor compared to car theft. We've been supporting legislation to increase those penalties, as well as penalties for copper theft, which is also on the rise."

When equipment goes missing, Travelers' specialty investigation group works with law enforcement to help track down stolen goods. "Our recoveries are in the millions of dollars in stolen equipment to date through this group," says Tracy. "We've also prevented claims of another few million dollars as well, because the unit was able to recover goods before a claim was filed."

Celevoke is participating in a number of Regional Heavy Equipment Theft Summits this year, and both Celevoke and Travelers are supporting the National Equipment Register (www.nerusa.com) (NER) to increase recovery rates of stolen equipment.