Cargo & Logistics

Any party shipping goods, product, or commodities by any means of transportation.

Cargo insurance pricing is calculated based on a valuation of the goods being transported and the perceived risk. The valuation of cargo is customizable based on the desire of the cargo owner and how it calculates values. For example, the insured value of your goods can be determined by adding the commercial invoice value of the goods (how much you are receiving in payment from your customer) to the cost of freight transport, with an additional 10% charge to cover additional expenses. Alternative valuation options are replacement cost, agreed value, and selling price.

Logistics is the arrangement and/or transportation of goods in the global supply chain. The exact insurance coverage requirements must be tailored to the activities of each operation. However, as the principal activity for logistics providers is the care, custody, and control of the goods of others, a core insurance coverage is cargo legal liability.

Logistics insurance products offer protection to any party involved in the transport, storage, or arrangement of such activities. These include trucking companies, freight forwarders, warehouse operators, non-vessel owning common carriers (NVOCC), customs brokers, and freight brokers.

This can vary greatly depending on each activity, limits, losses, contractual liability, applicable conventions, domestic or international movement of goods, and size of operation. Gross freight receipts of mileage are always used for rating purposes in conjunction with all other relevant exposure information.

A “general average” is a loss arising from the voluntary sacrifice of any part of a ship or cargo, or an expenditure to safeguard a ship and the rest of the cargo. When the vessel owner declares a general average, the vessel owner and all the cargo interests will share the expenses associated with the loss on a pro-rata basis. These expenses are typically covered under your cargo insurance policy. Such losses can be significant and may require letters of guarantee to have the cargo released. A letter of guarantee would be issued by the insurance company and is an agreement to meet an insured’s liability for contribution.