The recent bankruptcy of Korean shipping line Hanjin has left thousands of containers stranded, with many cargo owners asking “what will my cargo insurance pay for?”
A typical cargo insurance policy provides “all risk” coverage against physical loss or damage suffered by goods in transit; coverage for delay is specifically excluded. At first glance, it appears there is no coverage for this unprecedented bankruptcy.
There are, however, a few exceptions which do not require physical loss or damage to trigger coverage. To determine if you may have coverage for fees associated with the bankruptcy of a carrier, one policy section to examine is the “Landing, Warehousing, & Forwarding Charges” clause, sometimes referred to as “Landing, Warehousing” (individual insurers may refer to these slightly differently).
For more information, please visit ECIB's website
