Personal Insurance
Business Insurance
Industry Insurance
What Marine Insurance Covers
Marine insurance covers goods, cargo and maritime interests against loss or damage in transit by sea, air, road or rail.
It protects cargo owners, importers, exporters, freight forwarders and logistics operators against marine perils such as loss, damage, theft or delay in domestic and international trade. Private boat owners are a different case and need pleasure craft insurance instead.
Whether you ship within Australia or overseas, marine insurance keeps trade moving and protects cash flow after a transit loss. It sits beside your business insurance. It sits within our business insurance range at Fortis Risk Solutions.
Marine Insurance: Cover Sections and Benefits
What Marine Insurance does not cover
Marine insurance answers accidental loss or damage to goods in transit. It does not stand behind the condition of the goods when they were packed, or behind a supplier who fails to deliver. The usual exclusions are:
- Inadequate or unsuitable packing and preparation for the journey, including containers packed by you or on your behalf
- Inherent vice: fruit that ripens, chemicals that separate, timber that moves with humidity
- Ordinary leakage, ordinary loss in weight or volume, and ordinary wear and tear
- Delay, loss of market and consequential financial loss, even where the delay follows an insured event
- Wilful misconduct by the insured, and unlawful trade
- Insolvency or financial default of the carrier, where the goods were shipped knowing the risk
- War, strikes, riots and terrorism, unless those clauses are bought back on the policy
FRS checks the cover against your real trade lanes, terms of sale and packing method, so the point where risk passes to you is the point where the policy starts.
How Marine Insurance premiums are set
Cargo underwriters price the journey and the commodity rather than the size of your business. The main rating factors are:
- Annual value of sendings, split between imports, exports and domestic movements
- What is being carried, and how fragile, perishable or attractive to thieves it is
- Mode of carriage: sea, air, road or rail, and whether the goods are containerised
- Trade lanes and ports used, including any transhipment or inland leg
- Terms of sale, which decide how much of the journey is your risk
- Packing standard, and whether goods sit in storage between legs of the trip
- Claims history, the maximum value in any one sending, and the excess chosen
Annual open policies suit regular importers because every sending is declared under one contract. Single transit cover suits a one off shipment. FRS quotes marine insurance both ways and shows what each does to the excess and the limits.
How to claim on Marine Insurance
Cargo claims turn on paperwork created in the first hours after delivery. Once a clean receipt is signed, the rights against the carrier are weakened and the insurer has less to recover. The FRS process:
- Note the damage or shortage on the delivery docket before signing, and take photographs of the packaging and the seal
- Tell FRS the same day so a survey can be arranged before the goods are moved or repacked
- Give written notice of a claim to the carrier, port or airline within the time limit shown in their conditions
- Keep the damaged goods and all packing material until the surveyor has seen them, and do not dispose of anything
- Do not admit liability to your customer or agree a settlement with them before the insurer has responded
- FRS lodges the claim with the commercial invoice, packing list, bill of lading and survey report, then follows the recovery
Full details are on our make a claim page.
Marine Insurance compared with Goods in Transit under a business pack
| Question | Marine Insurance | Goods in Transit under a business pack |
|---|---|---|
| What it covers | Goods moving by sea, air, road or rail, including international legs and storage in between | Goods moving locally, usually by road, often only in your own vehicles |
| Who buys it | Importers, exporters, wholesalers and anyone shipping high value stock | Small businesses delivering their own product around town |
| Typical trigger | Container loss, water damage at sea, theft in a depot, mishandling at a port | An accident involving the delivery van, or theft from it |
| Sits with | Stock, business interruption, commercial motor | The rest of the pack: property, liability, glass |
The transit section of a pack is convenient but narrow. Once goods cross a border or sit in a third party warehouse, that section usually stops and a marine insurance policy is the right home for the risk. FRS reviews both against your business insurance renewal so nothing falls between them.
Marine Insurance FAQs
Yes. Marine cargo insurance can be arranged door to door, covering sea, air, road and rail transit from origin to final destination. Damage to your own delivery vehicle is a matter for commercial motor insurance.
It is not legally compulsory. Without it, though, cargo owners carry the full financial risk of loss or damage in transit. Carrier liability is typically limited and may not cover the full value of the goods.
Yes. Responsibility depends on the Incoterms in the contract:
- Under FOB, the buyer is responsible for insurance once the goods pass the ship's rail.
- Under CIF, the seller usually arranges insurance, but the cover may be limited.
Check which term applies before each shipment.
Single transit policies suit occasional shipments. Annual open policies suit regular importers and exporters, and they add efficiency, cost savings and automatic cover.