Forwarder-arranged cover
The tick-box on the booking — convenient, and the least transparent way to buy.
How cover is placed
Your forwarder or NVOCC arranges cover under its own facility and charges you for it, often as a line on the freight invoice. The certificate may name you, or the cover may sit under the forwarder’s policy with you as an interested party — a distinction that matters when you claim.
Who carries the risk
The insurer behind the forwarder’s facility. You frequently will not see which one until a loss, which is the core problem with this route.
Typical line size
Per-shipment, within the facility’s limits.
Strengths
- Zero extra effort at booking time
- One invoice for freight and cover
- Reasonable for low-value cargo where the premium is trivial
Trade-offs
- You often cannot see the wording, the clause level or the insurer
- Clause level is frequently (C) or a restricted in-house form, not (A)
- Carrier liability is not insurance — a forwarder’s liability cover is capped by convention and protects the forwarder, not your cargo
- Claiming means going through the party whose handling may have caused the loss
When to look here first
Low-value shipments where the administrative saving outweighs knowing what you bought. For anything material, ask for the wording before you tick the box.
How a claim is handled
Submitted through the forwarder, which sits between you and the insurer. Expect slower answers and less visibility than a direct relationship.
What filing a claim involves →Other channels
Syndicates subscribing to a risk through a broker, with capacity for the awkward and the very large.
Balance-sheet insurers writing cargo directly or through brokers, on their own paper and wording.
Underwriting on delegated authority from an insurer — the channel behind most instant cargo cover.
This page describes how the cargo market is structured. It names no insurer and asserts no relationship between InsuranceScanner and any market — we have no published panel yet. Nothing here is a recommendation that a particular channel or cover is suitable for you; see the Terms for our role.