Marine cargo and open covers

Cargo is insured shipment by shipment under an open cover: one policy that sets the rates and limits, and a declaration for each shipment.

Open covers

Lines > Open covers > New open cover is attached to a marine policy and sets the goods covered, the conveyances allowed (sea, air, road, rail), the limit per shipment, the cargo rate and war rate, the uplift on the invoice value (usually 10%), the minimum premium per shipment and how many days the insured has to declare.

Declaring shipments

Declare a shipment (on the open cover, or under Lines > Shipments) takes the goods, the voyage, the dates, the vessel, the bill of lading and the invoice value. The insured value is the invoice value plus the uplift; the premium is the insured value at the cargo rate, plus the war rate if war cover is asked for, with the minimum applied.

A shipment above the limit per shipment, or by a conveyance not on the cover, is refused. A shipment declared later than the days allowed is accepted but marked late.

Certificate issues a cargo certificate (PDF) for the shipment, for the buyer or the bank.

Billing

Each month the shipments declared in the previous month and not yet billed are billed on one debit note to the policyholder. Bill a month does the same on demand.

Vessels

Lines > Vessels keeps the ships used: IMO number, flag, type, year built and class, so each shipment names the vessel carrying it. Arrived on a shipment records the arrival date.

Cargo claims

A cargo claim names the shipment damaged. Survey on the shipment asks a surveyor to inspect; their report gives the cause, the loss and whether the carrier is liable. Claim against the carrier opens a recovery for the claim, with the carrier's limit worked out from the weight of the goods or the number of packages (in SDR), and notes the one-year time bar.