Insurance is an indispensable link in international trade and international economic exchanges. The buyers and sellers in different countries in the international trade, are separated by vast oceans, the goods will have to go a long way from the seller to the buyer's hand, and often is subject to damage in transit goods. Especially in the process of ocean transportation, ships are often damaged by natural disasters such as storms and huge waves, or by accidents such as reef collision, fire accident, stranding, damage to machinery and war.


In addition, in long-distance transportation, goods usually have to go through multiple loading and unloading, handling, stacking and storage, and various losses will occur in these processes. In order to ensure timely loss compensation in economic accounting, it is necessary to cover cargo transportation insurance.


In international trade negotiations, the Insurance premium (Insurance) with the goods (Cost) and the Freight Cost (Freight), become a part of the price in international trade, and Insurance conditions is also one of trading terms, is the indispensable part of concluding the contract between the seller and the buyer. Therefore, as the international freight forwarder business personnel, it is necessary to learn and master cargo transport insurance content. If the buyer and the seller enter into a trade contract and the goods are concluded on CIF terms, then under CIF terms, the seller has the obligation to insure the goods against carriage by sea.


Among them, the possible risks in the transportation of goods by sea include "maritime risks" and "external risks". "Marine risks" are also classified as "natural disasters" and "accidents". "External risk" is also divided into "general external risk" and "special external risk". The following are explained separately.




1. Possible "maritime risks" in the carriage of goods by sea




Before applying for Marine cargo insurance, it is important to know what kind of risks the goods will encounter during the sea transportation.




A ship carrying import and export goods across the sea will have to make a long voyage to the port of destination.




The vast ocean is treacherous, turbulent, and full of risks, and the cargo on board can be lost or damaged at any time.




At the same time, the goods before shipment from the shipper factory or warehouse into port, again through the process of storage, loading and unloading in the harbour, in the process, the goods will also suffer from all kinds of risk that you might encounter.




Due to the different political systems and control measures of trading countries in international trade, there may also be risks of war, strike and refusal to deliver goods.




These risks are causes damage to the goods and the ship, the cause of the Marine cargo insurance is to ship in the process of operation, the goods in transit may encounter various risks as the scope of its guarantee.




The possible risks encountered in the carriage of goods by sea fall into two categories: "maritime risks" and "external risks".




Maritime Perils are often called Maritime Perils, including "natural disasters" and "accidents" occurring at sea.




1> Natural Calamities (Calamities)




Natural disasters are disasters caused by the destructive forces caused by the variation of nature. Irresistible natural disasters that may occur in the carriage of goods by sea include:




1.Heavy Weather




Also said the storm, the weather is generally refers to the hurricane, waves caused by ships bumps, tilt, causes the damage of ship's hull, machinery and equipment, as well as the ship collision damage crushing, mixing, packing or soaked, washed away by water.




2. Lightning




The ship was struck by lightning, and the hull may break down, causing sea water to enter the ship's cabin and causing damage to the cargo. If the lightning hits the mast and causes the collapse and damage to the cabin, causing the sea water to enter, the cargo will also be soaked, causing losses.




3. Tsunami




Ships and goods are damaged or lost by the tsunami. Intense fluctuation, tsunami occurs, the surface of the water damage is very big, especially to attack a particular port, can make the ship collided with each other, ship sank, moved to the ship to the beach, ran aground.




Earthquake (Earthquake)




The earthquake may cause direct damage to ships and cargo or fire, explosion, flood and other damage caused thereby. An onshore earthquake may affect ships berthed at port gates for loading and unloading cargo. An offshore earthquake may cause tsunamis, affect tides and currents, and endanger navigation.




5. Flood (F1ood)




Flooding is refers to the accident, accident of precipitation, in a short time together to form a large runoff, including flash floods, river flood and tide ashore and flow backward, storm water, etc., make the ship and cargo by soaking, swept away or washed out, etc.




6. Volcanic Eruption




Volcanic eruption refers to the strong volcanic activities, the eruption of solid, liquid and toxic gases, resulting in ship and cargo losses. Volcanic eruptions on the ocean floor can also cause tsunamis that damage ships and cargo in transit.




7. Other force majeure disasters




For example, the Washing Overboard and the Washing Overboard and the water, the lake, the river water into ships, barges, means of transport, containers and storage sites.




2>The Accident




An accident is an accident caused by an unexpected cause. Possible accidents involving the carriage of goods by sea include:




1. Stranding of the ship (Stranding)




Ship ran aground refers to because the cause of the accident make hull with reefs in the sea, coastal or other obstacles, such as sinking, timber, fish trap contact, make its loss in a free state, and for some time.




Striking a Reef




Rocks is refers to the ship grazed the water rocks or other obstacles and can still move on a condition, the difference between it and ran aground, rocks is an obstacle to ship in contact with water, can still move on, and ran aground cannot do.




Sunk




Sinking refers to the entire hull has dipped below the surface, losing the ability to stand on a state, or did not constitute a hull sank, but has been much more than the draft standards set by the ship, make should float on the surface of a part of the submerged, sailing has been unable to continue. If a part of the hull enters the water, but it still has navigation capacity, it cannot be regarded as sinking.




4. Collision




Collision is refers to the ship on the voyage and other navigable violence contact objects, or any of the ships and floating object, sailing, floating ice, wreck, and the port, wharf, river bank such as the structure of the contact. In other words, collision refers to the collision between a ship and the ship or other non-ship objects.




5. Fire




Fire refers to the loss of ships and goods caused by the loss of control of accidental or accidental combustion and the spread and expansion. In the transportation of goods by sea, fire is one of the most serious risks. Explosions cause fires; Fire caused by negligence of the captain or crew; Spontaneous combustion due to the nature of the goods under the influence of external climate and temperature; After a shipwreck, a fire caused by a worker's improper operation such as an electric spark during repair; There are other fires caused by unknown causes.




6. Explosion




Explosion refers to the sharp internal decomposition or combustion of an object, into a large amount of gas and heat, causing the object itself and other surrounding objects to suffer strong destruction. In Marine transportation, the causes of explosion include: explosion of ship boiler or chemical reaction of cargo caused by climate.




7. Missing




Disappearance is a situation in which a ship loses contact over a period of time during sea voyage. Each country has set a "reasonable period" according to its own circumstances. The reasonable time limit set by our country is two months.




8. Capsized




Capsizing refers to the state in which a ship is subjected to natural disasters or accidents during navigation, causing the ship to tip over or tilt, and cannot continue sailing unless it is in an abnormal state or cannot be rescued or rescued. The ship then capsized, and the cargo on board could mix, collide, or fall into the water causing damage.


9. Jettison




Jettison also calls the cast goods, it is to point to when ship and carrying the goods are in immediate danger, the captain in order to save the common safety of ship and cargo, deliberately will ship part of goods or equipment jettison the loss caused by the sea.




10. Barratry of Master and sailor's spitmanner




This refers to the master or crew carrying the owner or the owner intentionally damage the interests of the owner or the owner of an illegal act, the master or crew of wrongdoing is also more common in the process of carriage of goods by sea is a risk. The malicious ACTS of the captain and crew are mainly manifested in: intentionally abandoning the ship, setting fire to the ship, or sinking the ship; Intentionally violating the navigation rules and causing the ship to be punished; To transact, smuggle or breach the blockade with a hostile party so that the cargo is seized or confiscated; To sell or mortgage a ship or goods by fraud.




The above is a list of possible "maritime risks" for some goods transported by sea. Any of the above risks in the carriage of goods by sea may result in the loss of goods. It is therefore necessary to insure goods by sea. Marine cargo insurance is the insurance to protect the loss caused by all kinds of risks insured by the policy during transportation. It can cover one or more kinds of risks.


"Natural disasters" and "accidents" belong to "Marine risks". What risks does "external risks" include? Listen to the breakdown below.


2. Possible "external risks" in the carriage of goods by sea




Foreign risk


The possible risks encountered in the carriage of goods by sea fall into two categories: "maritime risks" and "external risks". "External risk" is described in detail below.


External risk generally refers to the risk caused by external causes. So-called external reasons, must be unexpected, difficult to predict in advance, rather than the external factors, must be similar to normal wear and tear of the goods and losses are inevitable defects such as nature, do not belong to the external risk caused by the loss.


External risks can be divided into "general external risks" and "special external risks".




1>General external risks






The term "general external risk" here refers to the risk identified in the Marine cargo insurance business.




There are several kinds of general external risks that can be covered in Marine transport cargo insurance business:




1. Theft




Theft refers to the loss caused by the theft of a part of the whole goods or packaged goods. Stealing does not include overt robbery.




2. Non-delivery




Without the arrival of the goods refers to the loss of the goods in transit due to unknown reason is caused by the goods failed to arrive, or find whole shortage when arrived at the destination, failed to delivery to the consignee's losses.




3. Fresh Water and Damage Rain




Fresh water shower refers to the water damage caused by the melting of fresh water, rain water and snow.




4. Short Delivery




Short weight means the quantity of goods in the package is short or the quantity of goods in bulk is short when the goods are transported or when the goods reach the destination.




5. Leakage (Leakage)




Leakage refers to fill liquid or semi-liquid goods in the container in transit due to external causes container damage caused by the leakage losses, or use the soaking liquid of goods, such as pickles, caused by leakage of liquid cargo metamorphism, mildew etc.




6. Broken (Breakage)




Breakage mainly refers to the fragile goods in transport due to careless handling, loading and unloading, as well as vibration, turbulence, collision, pressure caused by the goods themselves broken or broken.




7. Be affected with damp be affected with damp heat (Sweating and Heating)




Dampness and heat refers to the condensation of water vapor in the cabin due to changes in temperature or the failure of ventilation equipment on board, causing the goods in the cabin to be damped and heated, causing mildew and deterioration, etc.




8. Taint of Odor




Odor means that the goods are affected by other smelly substances lose their original taste, lost their original use and value. For example, tea leaves and camphor balls, put together, produce a series of flavor, so that the tea lost its drinking value.




9. Contamination




Contamination refers to the pollution caused by goods in contact with other substances, such as cloth, paper, food, clothing, etc. caused by oil or colored substances.




10. Hook Damage




Hook damage refers to the loss of goods carried in bags or bundles due to improper operation of hand hooks and hooks during loading, unloading and handling.




11. Rust




Rust is an oxidation process of metal or metal products. There is no rust on the goods by sea when they are loaded.




12. Clash




Collision damage refers to the loss of concavity and deformation of metal or metal goods due to vibration, turbulence, collision and compression during transportation.








2>Special external risks




"Special external risk" refers to the risk caused by external causes other than general external risk. Special external risks are often caused by political, military, national bans and regulatory measures such as war, strikes and refusal to deliver goods.




1. War Risks




The risk of war refers to the loss of goods due to ACTS of war, ACTS of hostility and the resulting capture, detention, prohibition and various war weapons.




2. Strikes Risks




The risk of strike refers to the loss of goods due to the actions of strikers, workers who are forced to suspend their work, or those who are involved in labor unrest, riots, or civil strife.




3. Rejection Risks




The "risk of rejection" means the loss caused by the refusal or forfeiture of the goods by the government or relevant authorities of the importing country at the port of importation.


Above "general external risk" and "special external risk" belong to "external risk", that "Marine risks" (" natural disaster "and" accidental ") and what are the risks? Listen to the breakdown below.




The above is a list of possible "foreign risks" for some goods transported by sea. Any of the above risks in the carriage of goods by sea may result in the loss of goods. It is therefore necessary to insure goods by sea. Marine cargo insurance is the insurance to protect the loss caused by all kinds of risks insured by the policy during transportation. It can cover one or more kinds of risks.