What You Should Know about Cargo Liability vs. Insurance

How do you know if your loads are covered, especially if they are high-value and high-risk? Does your carrier or broker cover load losses over $100,000 even if it’s not their fault? How can you avoid the financial disaster that could follow a freight disaster?

Understanding the difference between cargo liability and insurance is critical, as well as knowing what your carrier or broker actually offers.

Cargo Liability

Most standard carrier agreements cover up to $100,000 in cargo liability, which is included in your freight quote. This is enough to cover the value of many loads, but shippers can be at risk for high-value loads that often require significantly higher coverage. Relying on standard cargo liability can put you at risk if your high-value loads are damaged or lost – even if the carrier is negligent.

Cargo liability typically doesn’t cover weather, acts of God, concealed damage, or damage from improper packaging or loading. You must also prove that the damage or loss is the carrier’s fault and provide evidence of value and loss to make a successful claim.

Cargo Insurance as Additional Protection

Additional cargo liability coverage can often be purchased to cover the total value of loads that exceed agreed coverage levels, which can be critically important for high-value loads. It’s important to make sure your carrier or broker explicitly includes total load coverage in their freight quote to fully protect the value of your high-value shipments.

Additionally, you have the option to acquire “all-risk cargo insurance.” This covers load values not covered by standard freight insurance due to any cause, including accidents, natural disasters, theft, and loss of or damage to goods due to mishandling or storage problems.

To make a successful claim with all-risk cargo insurance, you only need to prove that damage or loss occurred while the shipment was in the carrier’s possession. Payments for claims may also be expedited because of the lower burden of proof required.

Your High-Value, High-Risk Freight Partner

As part of our high-value, high-risk freight service, LiVe Logistics can provide cargo liability coverage into the millions for every shipment. Many of our clients have a hard time determining load value prior to shipment; this provides coverage you don’t have to worry about.

LiVe Logistics also offers the option of all-risk insurance to provide further protection and peace of mind, especially for high-value-high-risk loads, and we often get better rates than even our largest clients.

Beware of carriers and brokers that provide a low price on your freight quote, but do not explicitly disclose the dollar value and terms of coverage or blanketly agree to lower terms than provided within the shipment details. LiVe Logistics will work closely with you to determine the correct amount of cargo liability and insurance coverage for any value loads.