BAKU, Azerbaijan, April 24. Charterer’s liability and legal expenses insurance requires more active implementation in the Caspian and Central Asian regions, the Director of the Geneva office for Orbis Risk Partners SA, Mike Shaw, said, Trend reports.
He made the statement at the 2nd Forum on Logistics and Oil Trade in the Caspian and Central Asian Regions in Baku.
"Charterer’s liability and legal expenses insurance is not yet widespread in this region, and I believe this needs to change. You often hear: ‘Nothing has gone wrong yet.’ This is the key argument I encounter in the companies I’ve worked with, both within organizations and among clients. People say, ‘We want to insure the cargo, but we’re not worried about charterer’s liability insurance,’ or ‘We don’t insure rail transport because nothing ever happens,’ he noted.
He noted that it is necessary to consider one’s risks and discuss them with insurers or brokers.
Shaw noted that marine cargo insurance typically covers storage and multimodal transport. This is so-called “marine cargo insurance,” which covers the entire journey of the cargo, from the moment a financial interest arises, including loading onto a train, storage, loading onto a ship, unloading, and onward transport.
"If there is an insurable interest, the entire route can be covered by a single insurance policy. At the same time, incidents on the railway do occur and can be serious, both for the cargo itself and in terms of liability, pollution, or damage. In such cases, compensation is usually sought from participants in the supply chain, even if they do not consider themselves liable," he said.
According to him, the key issue in this regard remains the availability of insurance coverage: are the risks insured, or are they effectively assumed by the company without full awareness of the possible consequences?.