Yes! The export/import business in India has been structured well, and regardless of what you are exporting or importing, you can insure the product under a marine policy. Marine cargo for the goods being sent over a sea and inland marine cargo for transit on land is available for businesses involved in carrying goods to places.
Types of Insurance for Goods You Can Export/Import
Based on the type of goods you are transferring, there are different kinds of cargo or marine insurance policies.
- Specific Voyage: This policy covers only specific It includes the cargo until it reaches the destination. It is ideal for the firms, which don’t need cargo policies throughout the trade.
This type of policy is best suited for businesses involved in one-off import or export of goods, for example, large machinery, capital equipment, etc. It is also available for inland transfers of assets.
- Open Cover:Open cover is an agreement to include all shipments of the exporter of a particular time period (for ex. 1 year), instead of only one shipment. Generally, large scale exporters use this policy.
The exporter has to declare every shipment to any location (usually per month). It covers any kind of goods exported by any transport mode and conveyance like transshipment and multimodal transport, so theinsurer can estimate the premiums and bill them.
The insurer supplies the insurance declaration form to be completed by the exporter and supplies insurance certificates to the insurer. Insurance declaration form has all the details mentioned in an insurance application.
- Annual Turnover Policy: It covers transportation of any finished, raw, or semi-finished material regarding the trade of insured, such as export, import, inter-depot movement and incidental storage.
The sum insured (and respective premium) in this case is decided based on an agreed upon value of the turnover of the company in the coming year. Any difference in the turnover and coverage is adjusted in the next policy year.
Best features in this type of insurance are:
- Significant premium discount
- All movement of goods is covered automatically
- Periodical declaration of movements to the insurer can be submitted on monthly/Quarterly sales figures
- Premium can be paid on half-yearly, quarterly basis.
- Open Policy: All the marine consignments of the client are covered under this policy for one year for the export or import, but the sum assured is limited. With each declaration of cargo, the sum insured is used and once exhausted, the business needs to buy another policy.
This policy is especially useful for businesses involved in inland transfers rather than international import/export operations. This policy is also known as a floatingpolicy.
It offers the convenience of buying insurance only once in a year for all the shipments rather than insuring all the shipments separately.
To summarize, Marine Insurance covers all kinds of losses mentioned above. It is best suited for all parties engaged in import and export of goods. It provides total protection to the owner of goods against risks or losses.
How to Buy Marine Insurance Policies?
Depending on your export/import needs marine cargo policies can be customized. Also, buying the right policy for your needs can help you sleep easy at night, while a wrong choice will call for extra efforts to ensure that all your shipments are insured.
Therefore, a careful comparison and assessment of your business needs arenecessary before you can select a policy well suited for it. Following other factors also influence the type of policy you should avail for your activity:
- You are Exporting/Importing once or twice in a year, and there is high degree of uncertainty about this activity
- You are regular exporter/importer, but you are not sure about the total size of your annual consignment
- Your business depends on export/import, and your annual turnover is predictably based on this activity
- You are exporting/importing multiple types of goods in a year.
Comparing and Managing the Policies
While figuring out and predicting your business needs can be easy, comparing different policies can be a tedious task. Online insurance advisors like SecureNow, aspire to fit in this space, where they can assist you with multiple quotes from various insurers and manage the policy once you have purchased. The best part is the 24×7 assistance that will be available to ensure that your issues are resolved at any time of the day.
