Shipping Insurance for Importers
Cargo cover levels and claim documentation.
1. Why it matters
Marine cargo insurance covers the gap between "the goods left the factory" and "the goods arrived saleable". A single container of LED fixtures represents tens of thousands of dollars that can be lost to a storm, a stack collapse, water ingress or theft — and the carrier's liability is capped so low that without your own policy you would recover a fraction of the value. Insurance is cheap; being uninsured on a total loss is not.
2. Why the carrier's liability is not enough
Ocean carriers limit their liability by international convention to a tiny amount per package or per kilo — far below the real value of electronics. Recovery also requires proving the carrier's fault, and many perils (weather, general average) are excluded entirely. Your own cargo policy pays on the value of the goods, not on a per-kilo cap, and does not require you to litigate the carrier first.
- Carrier liability is capped per package/kg by convention — pennies on the dollar.
- General average: if cargo is sacrificed to save the ship, all owners share the cost — you need insurance to cover your share.
- Your policy pays goods value; no need to prove carrier fault first.
3. Coverage level and the right sum insured
| Cover | What it includes | Use |
|---|---|---|
| ICC (A) all-risks | All loss/damage except named exclusions | Default choice for electronics |
| ICC (B) | Listed major perils only | Partial, rarely enough |
| ICC (C) | Minimum — major casualty only | CIF default; too thin alone |
4. Door-to-door scope and who holds the policy
Two details decide whether a claim pays. First, scope: insure the whole journey door-to-door (factory → port → ocean → port → your warehouse), because a "port-to-port" policy leaves the inland legs — where much handling damage happens — uncovered. Insure at CIF value plus 10% to cover freight, duty and lost margin, and file claims within the policy's time limit with the survey report and photos. Second, alignment with your Incoterm: under CIF/CIP the seller buys the policy (and under CIF it is minimum cover you cannot control), so for anything valuable prefer FCA/FOB and place your own all-risks policy where you choose the insurer and the terms.
5. Checklist
- Buy ICC (A) all-risks, not the CIF minimum (C)
- Insure door-to-door, including inland legs
- Set the sum insured at CIF value + 10%
- Hold your own policy for valuable cargo (FCA/FOB)
- File within the time limit with survey report + photos