Shipping Agents Professional Indemnity Insurance

A shipping contract stipulates the obligation of a shipping agent to enter, in their name and on the behalf of their client, a contract of carriage and other contracts required for the transport, and perform other standard activities, and the obligation of the client to pay a fee determined for such services.

The shipping agent is obliged to warn the clients about any issues in their orders, especially those that may expose them to higher costs or damage.

This type of insurance policy covers your liability for any material damage occurring in the execution of a shipping contract, into which you enter as part of your regular activity.

The shipping agent is obliged to insure the shipment only if stipulated by the contract. If the contract does not specify which risks are to be insured, the shipping agent is obliged to insure the shipment against standard risks.

If the shipment is not packaged and ready for shipping, the shipping agent is obliged to warn the client about such issues, and if the wait for the client to remove such deficiencies could cause them damage, the shipping agent is obliged to remove those at the client’s expense.

The shipping agent is obliged to follow instructions on the direction of shipping, means and manner of transportation, as well as other instructions as may be received from the client. If it is not possible to follow some of the instructions contained in the order, the shipping agent is obliged to request new instructions, and if there is no time or it is impossible to do so, the shipping agent is obliged to act in the client’s best interests. The shipping agent is obliged to report to the client any deviation from the order without delay.

If the client has not determined the direction, means or manner of transportation, the shipping agent shall determine those in accordance with the client’s best interests in any given case. If the shipping agent has deviated from the client’s instructions, they will be responsible for any damage thus incurred, even in the event of force majeure; unless it can be proven that the damage would have occurred even if the given instructions had been followed.

If the order contains explicit or implicit authorization for the shipping agent to entrust the execution of the order to another shipping agent or if this is undoubtedly in the client’s best interests, the agent is only responsible for the choice of another agent, unless the agent has also assumed the responsibility for the activities of the other agent.

The insurance premium is based on:

• the annual income from shipping activities
• the cover limit (sum insured)
• the scope of cover (deductible)

The shipping agent’s liability is limited to damage up to USD 350.000 per loss event in relation to a single shipping order or shipment. The insured’s liability for the compensation of lost profit is not covered by this insurance.

A single “shipping order” or “shipment” is understood as:

• goods shipped under one shipping document
• each individual cumulative shipment by the same conveyance or container
• each individual shipping order or shipment which cannot be classified as a) or b)