Marine Transit Insurance
Marine transit insurance products help protect your business from loss or damage to cargo and vessels. It can cover the door to door delivery of goods worldwide, by sea, rail, road and air including their storage on the way.
What is marine transit insurance?
If your business requires exports and imports across oceans, you could be exposed to a range of risks from the environment to piracy. Such risks can prevent your vessel, cargo or vehicle from reaching its destination or cause costly damage during the voyage.
Marine transit insurance products help protect your business from loss or damage to cargo and vessels. It can cover the door to door delivery of goods worldwide, by sea, rail, road and air including their storage on the way.
Who should consider marine transit insurance?
Marine transit insurance is important for businesses involved in shipping or receiving goods, operating watercraft commercially, repairing vessels, running a marina and more.
Marine insurance can provide valuable cover both on land and sea for:
- Freight forwarders
- Importers and exporters
- Marina owners
- Mining companies
- Primary producers
- Removalists
- Tourism operators
- Wholesalers
What can marine transit insurance cover?
There are different types of marine-related insurance policies – the type you choose will vary based on your specific needs. Depending on the type of policy you choose, marine insurance policies can cover:
Type of cover | Potential benefits |
Accidental damage | Physical damage that occurs as a result of an unexpected and non-deliberate external action. |
Insured events | Only the events nominated by the insurer. These are commonly known as fire, collision and/or overturning covers, although there are normally more events offered than these. |
Collision | Damage caused due to the collision of the carrying vehicle, vessel, train, aero plane. It may be a collision between two conveyances or it might involve the conveyance hitting another object such as a bridge, wall, tree, etc. |
Dropping during loading and unloading | Dropping during loading or unloading if this is not an excluded event specified under a specified risks policy. |
Fire, explosion, lightning | While fire is a common event covered by most transit policies, cover for explosion and lighting may or may not be granted. |
Impact of goods with external objects other than the conveying vehicle or road | Full impact cover can be provided, including goods falling from and within the vehicle. |
Malicious damage | Cover for malicious acts, vandalism and sabotage by third parties. |
What usually isn't covered by marine transit insurance?
Exclusions, the excess you need to pay and limits of liability can vary greatly depending on the nature of the product you are purchasing, the associated risk, the insurer and the requirements of your business.
Policies generally do not include cover for:
- Consequential loss/loss of market
- War
- Delay
There are exclusions which are specific to each type of policy, which your Westphalian insurance broker can outline for you.
