“Inland marine” could win the title for most misleading insurance term. Even if you’re entirely landlocked with no water for miles around, you might still need inland marine insurance.
Inland marine insurance protects items that move around in some way, even if no water is involved. Here are the answers to some common questions about inland marine insurance:
What is inland marine insurance?
Confusingly, inland marine insurance generally protects items transported over land via train or truck, such as inventory, materials and equipment. It also covers items while they are temporarily stored or warehoused.
Inland marine policies can also be used to cover certain specialized business and personal items that traditional property insurance won’t cover, like guns, furs and valuable papers or records.
Inland marine policies normally cover several categories of property, including:
- Property in transit, such as film equipment transported from a set to a shoot location
- Property in your temporary care, such as customer clothing left with a dry cleaner
- Property at a definite but mobile location, such as machinery attached to a truck
- Property that moves around, such as tools that move from worksite to worksite
- Property that helps transfer information, such as computer equipment
- Unique or valuable property, such as special decorative or high-value items that can’t be insured with a standard policy
How is inland marine insurance different from commercial property insurance?
Commercial property insurance usually covers assets that stay in one place. This means that if inventory is destroyed while in transit between two business locations, standard commercial property insurance won’t cover it. Inland marine insurance fills that gap.
How does inland marine insurance protect personal property?
While inland marine insurance is primarily used to protect commercial goods shipped over land, it can also cover personal property while it’s being shipped, as well as valuables that are stored at a home or business. In many cases, inland marine insurance can fill gaps left by a homeowners policy.
For example, inland marine insurance will cover shipped valuables that are lost or damaged when their value exceeds the shipper’s declared value limits.
Does your business need inland marine insurance?
If you frequently ship equipment or products, you may want to consider inland marine insurance. Inland marine insurance can benefit the following types of businesses, according to Fundera:
- Home contractors
- Construction businesses
- Food truck vendors and caterers
- Trucking companies
- Businesses that travel to trade shows, exhibitions or conventions
- Businesses that ship raw materials or finished goods over land
- Businesses that engage in specialized types of storage or transportation (such as animal trainers who transport dogs or jewelry dealers who hold others’ pieces to sell on consignment)
- Businesses like wineries that transport their products for distribution
What are some industry-specific types of inland marine coverage?
Inland marine insurance is known by various names and different insurance companies provide an assortment of options. Some of these include:
- Bailee’s customer coverage
- Builder’s risk
- Exhibition and fine art coverage
- Installation floaters
- Motor truck cargo coverage
- Jewelers block
- Tool and die floaters
How do you purchase inland marine coverage?
Inland marine insurance is often included in business owner policies or offered as an add-on to other coverages such as general liability, property or crime insurance. Many inland marine policies cover insured property no matter where it’s located. These are often called “floater” policies.
What are the main types of inland marine claims?
Collisions and cargo theft are the two most frequent causes of inland marine losses, according to the Insurance Information Institute.
Does inland marine insurance have anything to do with boats or water?
Nowadays, inland marine insurance doesn’t have anything to do with boats or water. But it got its name back when goods were largely transported by ship. Marine insurers offered coverage for this cargo. As railroads allowed shipping and business opportunities to move inland, these marine insurers expanded to provide coverage for new types of transportation, equipment and technology. From there, inland marine insurance grew to cover a wide range of property moved over land.
Looking for help?
To learn more about how to protect your assets on the go, contact our construction team. They can help you assess your risks and inland marine coverage needs.
This content is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing professional, financial, medical or legal advice. You should contact your licensed professional to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem. Please refer to your policy contract for any specific information or questions on applicability of coverage.
Please note coverage can not be bound or a claim reported without written acknowledgment from a OneGroup Representative.
This content is for informational purposes only and not for the purpose of providing professional, financial, medical or legal advice. You should contact your licensed professional to obtain advice with respect to any particular issue or problem.
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