Marine Insurance

I have explained in previous articles, that if something goes wrong with your export or import the shipment and it is lost or damaged during the international transport movement, you might be eligible to receive full value of the goods from your carrier. The freight company will normally pay compensation if they have proven themselves to be at fault. In addition, their liability to pay compensation is limited according to international conventions (eg the CMR for road freight) and their standard trading conditions.

The best way to ensure you can recover the actual value of goods lost or damaged while they are transported is to arrange specialist 'goods in transit insurance. As for the house and buildings insurance, you pay a premium, so you can make a claim if you need.

It is easy enough to find insurance for your home and its contents - we are constantly bombarded with advertisements advising us to use comparison websites to get the best price for all our personal insurance needs. However, it is not so easy to "goods in transit 'insurance in order to get the best kind of coverage for your needs, you need to find a broker who specializes in this type of insurance.

But this may not be a good option if you have only a small number of international shipments per year, or if you simply do not have time to do research. Then the freight forwarder can help you.

Many reputable shipping companies are able to offer "transit cargo insurance on a" per shipment "using their own policy cover is open. This usually means that you pay a small premium. The premium is based on the CIF (Cost Insurance and Freight) value of goods and the risk profile of geographical locations on the movement. The CIF consists of the value of goods plus transportation costs plus ten percent.

The shipping company can quote you for this when they give you a price for transporting goods. The freight company will issue a certificate of insurance, you will have to produce should you make a claim. When the coverage of marine insurance was removed, the cargo owner only needs to have proof of loss to apply, while making a liability claim against the carrier, we must prove that the carrier has committed a fault.

You must confirm your instruction for writing before the import or export shipment to count, but it can be done easily by email.

To summarize, it is always advisable to ask shipping companies to quote for the products in transit insurance if you do not have your own annual revenues of transit policy. This way, you can ask for the total value of goods and the value of the freight bill if the goods were lost, rather than simply compensation limited.