Marine Cargo & Hull Insurance

Marine insurance is the oldest branch of general insurance and remains central to commercial trade. It responds to the risks of TRANSPORT and of owning the means of transport: goods can be lost or damaged in transit by sea, air or land, and the vessels that carry them face their own perils. For businesses that import, export, manufacture or ship, marine cover is a routine but critical part of the commercial insurance programme.

Two broad classes make up the marine account most relevant to commercial clients:

• •MARINE CARGO — insures goods and merchandise while in transit against loss or damage, from one place to another, usually on a voyage or transit basis.
• •MARINE HULL — insures the ship, vessel or craft itself (its structure, machinery and equipment), and often its liabilities, usually on a time (annual) basis.

Marine insurance is distinctive because it is heavily governed by long-established marine legal principles and by standardised, internationally recognised clause sets. Concepts such as GENERAL AVERAGE, valued policies and specific marine perils rarely appear in ordinary non-marine classes, which is why marine is examined as a class in its own right.

The six general-insurance principles all apply, but with a marine flavour: insurable interest and utmost good faith govern the contract's validity; indemnity, subrogation and contribution govern the amount paid; and proximate cause is applied against a defined list of marine perils and exclusions.

Marine cargo insurance protects the OWNER of goods (or another party with an interest in them) against physical loss of or damage to those goods while they are being moved. Although called 'marine', modern cargo cover typically follows the goods across the WHOLE journey, including inland transport to and from the port and, where relevant, air or road legs — reflecting how international trade actually moves door-to-door.

A key idea is TRANSIT: cover attaches while the goods are in the ordinary course of carriage. A common feature of cargo clauses is a 'transit clause' (sometimes called the warehouse-to-warehouse or door-to-door concept) under which cover begins when the goods leave the point of origin, continues during the ordinary course of transit, and ends when they reach the named destination or after a set period following discharge, whichever happens first.