Cargo insurance or Marine Cargo insurance provides financial security to the goods against losses, damage, pilferage, etc. Hence, the cargo insurance forms an integral part of movement of goods especially when exported and imported in which case the risk is more as the cargo has to undergo various modes of transportation and geographies. The more the cargo remains in transit, the risk factor increases as it is subjugated to various conditions before reaching the end customer.
It can be stated that there is still a dearth of proper awareness of cargo insurance among the exporters and importers and it is still given a secondary importance. To avoid additional costs other than freight, insurance is often avoided. However, the bigger picture is that the insurance covers the freight and the invoice commercial value of the goods especially for high volume or high value shipments.
The significance of cargo insurance can be understood keeping in view the ongoing pandemic and the delays, discrepancies, losses it has caused to most businesses. Importers and exporters have had to face the brunt of the lockdowns and the subsequent difficulties. Orders have not been met and cancelled, payments stuck, businesses closed and so on. Another instance where the significance of cargo insurance can be felt is when one of the largest container 200,000 ton ships was stuck in the Suez Canal for almost a week, which had huge businesses at stake with tonnes of cargo, crude oil, livestock on-board. The incident not only caused the Ocean cargo shipping services
on-board the ship to face delays and damages, but also it clogged a crucial waterway that connected a significant trade lane that connects Europe to Asia.
The logistics companies are also usually at risk when a damage or loss occurs for a cargo they are handling, as the end customer usually puts the onus on the logistic companies since they would not have taken insurance for the shipment. There are many instances when the freight payments are help up and cancelled due to any discrepancy is caused to the cargo during transit. Such cases can be negated with insurance forming an integral part of the logistics process of any shipment.
Many logistics companies are also acting as logistics consultants for its customers to guide them and procure the best freight options, right forwarding connections along with options for cargo insurance wherever necessary. With marine insurance gaining popularity among the insurance service providers as well, more competitive premium and pricing options are getting available. The logistics companies usually have tie-ups with insurance providers and guide the importers and exporters with the right kind of insurance based on the invoice and freight value, carriers involved, transit and routing involved, countries involved and so on.
The Government can play a significant role in safeguarding the trade movement by making cargo insurance mandatory for at least cargo that has value more than a critically significant benchmark. Also the Logistics and other trade related policies can safeguard the interest of the logistics service providers with the mandatory incorporation of insurance for any cargo as this would avoid the undue holding of payments and freight cancellations that they have to face
Any cargo that is moved by air, sea, road or rail can be covered under cargo insurance, that generally covers theft, pilferage, air freight tracking , fire, explosions, earthquakes, lightnings, sinking, stranding, collision, bad weather, non-delivery, derailment, etc.
Exclusions may be any theft or damage caused by negligence, order cancellations due to customs rejections or cargo abandonment, failure in payment, force majeure cases, etc.
Cargo insurance policies are segregated to Land Cargo Insurance, Marine Cargo Insurance, Open Cover, Specific Voyage Policy, Duty Insurance, etc.
With more demand for the insurance, the supply also will increase, and there would be more insurance providers that would offer cargo insurance that can lead to competitive and economical insurance options. The logistics companies can offer all-inclusive premium options for cargo that includes multi-modal transportation where there is more risk involved. Insurance can be included with minimal and competitive pricing, as the other mandatory services that goes with any cargo movement. If we look from the technology perspective, there is technology like RFID and IOT gaining popularity in cargo movement, that assist in piece level tracking and tracing of cargo. This will not only encourage safety and security of shipments, but also be an added advantage to the cargo that is already covered by insurance.
Zipaworld – The Logistics emall of India is a single window online platform for multi-modal logistics services. Along with several other services, Zipaworld provides Cargo Insurance and security to the various freight options.
Zipaworld offers live market rates 24×7 for international and domestic logistics services. One can easily check and compare competitive rates for air freight, ocean freight, Top freight forwarders in india, road freight and even avail express courier services. Once the query is fed into the portal, then you need not worry about the complicated processes. The complete freight forwarding process is contained in 5 simple steps and takes very less time as compared to the time-consuming traditional workflows. The freight documentation like Airwaybill, Shipping Instructions, Bill of Lading, etc is fully automatic and gets prepared based on the details available. Moreover, live tracking is available for 24×7 for the cargo booked on Zipaworld. One can book their cargo as per their requirement like airport to airport, or door to door and the complete task is taken care of by Zipaworld. The best thing is that at the end of the day, one gets single bill invoicing for one or more logistics services availed. Also, the bill invoice is automatically generated and remains available in your account in e-docket which can be accessed any time. All the documentation related to any transaction remains available in the e-docket and hence there is no chance of misplacing important documents. Zipaworld also offers multiple online payment gateways.
