Airlift arranges cargo insurance through AA-rated providers to cover your goods against loss or damage worldwide. Rough handling, weather damage and theft in transit are covered, subject to the policy terms.
If you need to claim, our team helps you prepare the file and follows it through to a decision.
Cover is optional and must be confirmed before the goods move. It cannot be added after a loss.
We work directly with our insurance partners, which helps claims resolve faster. The full checklist, including carrier deadlines, is under "Filing a claim" below.
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The ocean line, airline or trucker that moves your goods owes you only what the law behind its bill of lading or air waybill allows. That limit is set per package or per kilogram, not by what the goods are worth.
Cargo insurance closes the gap. It is a policy the owner of the goods (or a forwarder on the owner’s behalf) buys so that the insured value is paid if the goods are lost or damaged in transit. It is separate from the carrier’s liability.
The table shows the three regimes that apply to shipments to and from the USA. Each lets you declare a higher value on the transport document for an extra charge, but declared-value freight is expensive and the carrier keeps every defense the law gives it. A policy in your own name pays on the loss itself, and the insurer then pursues the carrier for whatever the carrier owes.
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| Mode | Regime | Carrier's limit of liability | Notice and time bars |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocean | Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (COGSA), 46 U.S.C. § 30701 note | $500 per package or customary freight unit, unless the shipper declares the nature and value of the goods before shipment and the value is inserted in the bill of lading (s. 4(5)). | Written notice of loss at the port of discharge, before or at removal of the goods; within three days of delivery if the damage is not apparent. Suit within one year of delivery (s. 3(6)). |
| Air | Montreal Convention 1999, Art. 22 | 26 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) per kilogram since December 28, 2024, up from 22 SDRs, unless a higher value is declared on the air waybill and a supplementary sum paid. | Written complaint within 14 days of receipt for damage and within 21 days for delay (Art. 31). Action within two years of arrival (Art. 35). |
| US trucking | Carmack Amendment, 49 U.S.C. § 14706 | Actual loss or injury to the property. But the carrier may limit its liability to a value the shipper declares or agrees in writing, and most truckers’ bills of lading and tariffs do exactly that. | The carrier may not allow less than nine months to file a claim or less than two years to bring a civil action. |
What the limits mean in dollars: an SDR is the International Monetary Fund’s unit of account, and 26 SDRs was roughly US$35 at the time of the 2024 revision. So the airline would cover a 100 kg air shipment of electronics worth $40,000 for only a few thousand dollars unless it is insured. On the ocean side, what counts as a "package" depends on how the bill of lading describes the cargo, so the piece count and packaging on the bill matter.
The short version: Clauses (A) cover theft, breakage, rough handling and water damage; Clauses (B) and (C) do not.
Most cargo policies written for US importers and exporters use the Institute Cargo Clauses, a standard set of London-market wordings last revised on January 1, 2009. They come in three grades. Clauses (A) are the "all risks" wording: clause 1 covers all risks of loss of or damage to the goods except what clauses 4 to 7 exclude, so you only have to show that an accidental loss happened. Clauses (B) and (C) are named-perils wordings: they pay only for loss caused by a peril on their list, and you have to show which listed peril caused it.
The difference shows up in everyday losses. Theft, pilferage, non-delivery, rough handling, breakage, wetting from rain or condensation and container drops in the yard are not on the (B) or (C) lists. Under (A) they are covered as accidental losses, subject to the exclusions. Piracy is another difference: Clauses (A) carve piracy out of the war exclusion, while (B) and (C) do not. The table compares the three.
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| Peril | ICC (A) | ICC (B) | ICC (C) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basis of cover | All risks of loss or damage, except the exclusions | Listed perils only | Shorter list of perils only |
| Fire or explosion; vessel stranded, grounded, sunk or capsized; land conveyance overturned or derailed; collision; discharge at a port of distress | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| General average sacrifice; jettison | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Earthquake, volcanic eruption or lightning | Covered | Covered | Not covered |
| Washing overboard; entry of sea, lake or river water into the vessel, hold, container or place of storage | Covered | Covered | Not covered |
| Total loss of a package lost overboard or dropped during loading or unloading | Covered | Covered | Not covered |
| Theft, pilferage, non-delivery, breakage, rough handling, rain or condensation damage | Covered as an accidental loss, subject to the exclusions | Not covered | Not covered |
| Piracy | Covered (excepted from the war exclusion) | Excluded | Excluded |
| Deliberate damage by the wrongful act of any person | Covered (no clause 4.7) | Excluded (clause 4.7) | Excluded (clause 4.7) |
All risk is not every risk. Clauses 4 to 7 of every grade exclude loss, damage or expense caused by:
For most shipments you can buy war and strikes cover back by adding the Institute War Clauses (Cargo) and Institute Strikes Clauses (Cargo) to the policy. Ask for them by name when the route passes through a listed area.
Watch the 60-day limit. Cover ends 60 days after the goods are discharged from the ocean vessel at the final port, even if they have not reached your warehouse. A container that sits at the port for two months under a customs hold, or in your own yard as overflow storage, can run out of cover before it is unpacked.
The transit clause (clause 8) starts the insurance when the goods are first moved in the origin warehouse for immediate loading and keeps it in force during the ordinary course of transit. Cover ends at the earliest of: completion of unloading at the final warehouse named in the policy; unloading at any other warehouse you choose for storage, allocation or distribution; your decision to use a container or vehicle as storage; or the 60-day limit above.
The usual answer is CIF value plus 10 percent: the commercial invoice value plus freight plus insurance, with a 10 percent uplift meant to cover the buyer’s expected profit and the costs that sit outside the invoice.
Cargo policies are valued policies: the sum insured is agreed in advance, not assessed after the loss. The IUMI Guide to Marine Cargo Insurance calls CIF + 10% the most popular basis of valuation. It is a convention, not a rule, and a buyer whose margin or landed costs are higher can insure a higher agreed value.
Incoterms 2020 writes the same convention into the sale contract for two rules. Under CIF the seller must buy at least Institute Cargo Clauses (C), or equivalent, for at least 110 percent of the contract price. Under CIP the seller must buy Institute Cargo Clauses (A). Under every other rule, including FOB and FCA, nobody is obliged to insure, and the buyer carries the risk from the moment it transfers.
The premium is a rate applied to the insured value. The rate is set per commodity and per lane, which is why no reputable forwarder publishes a single price for cargo insurance. What moves it:
To quote cover we need six things: the commodity, the commercial invoice value, the Incoterm, the origin and destination, the mode, and how the goods are packed. Cover is confirmed before the goods move. It cannot be added after a loss.
If the ship’s owner declares general average, your cargo is held until someone posts security for your share. With insurance, the insurer does that. Without it, you pay.
General average is the oldest rule in maritime law. When the master deliberately sacrifices part of the ship or cargo, or incurs an extraordinary expense, to save the whole venture from a common peril, every party whose property was saved contributes to the loss in proportion to the value saved. Jettisoning containers to refloat a grounded ship, a salvage contract, port-of-refuge costs and firefighting damage are the classic examples. An average adjuster assesses the contribution under the York-Antwerp Rules incorporated in the bill of lading, and it can take years to finalize.
The Ever Given is the case most importers remember. The vessel grounded in the Suez Canal on March 23, 2021 and was refloated on March 29. The owner then declared general average and appointed adjusters. Cargo was released only against general-average security: for insured cargo, the cargo insurer issued an average guarantee; for uninsured cargo, the owner required a cash deposit before releasing the container and held a lien on the goods until it was paid. FIATA warned at the time that shippers without appropriate cover could lose their cargo altogether if they could not fund the bond.
Every grade of the Institute Cargo Clauses covers general average and salvage charges (clause 2), including the security needed to get the container released. That is the main reason a buyer of a low-value shipment still insures it. Without cover, you fund the security yourself and pay your share of the adjustment when it is finally issued.
Most claims are won or lost at the delivery dock. Follow these steps in order; both the policy and the carrier’s liability regime expect them.
Keep the legal deadlines in view while the claim runs. COGSA bars a suit against the ocean carrier one year after delivery; the Montreal Convention, two years after arrival. A US trucker must allow at least nine months to file a claim and two years to sue. The policy also sets its own notice requirements, and late notice is the most common reason a valid loss goes unpaid.
Airlift USA is an FMC-licensed NVOCC and freight forwarder (OTI license 016162), not an insurer. We arrange cargo insurance through our insurance partners for the ocean, air and trucking shipments we handle, on the value you declare, and we confirm the certificate before the goods move.
Cover is optional and is quoted with the freight when you ask for it. At booking, tell us the commodity, the invoice value, the Incoterm and how the goods are packed. We will quote Institute Cargo Clauses (A) cover, warehouse to warehouse, unless the commodity or route calls for something else.
If there is a loss, we help you assemble the claim file and submit it, and we chase the carrier for the exceptions and correspondence the insurer needs.
Send the origin, destination, cargo and its value. We reply with the freight rate and how cover is arranged for the shipment.
All-risk cargo insurance is cover written on Institute Cargo Clauses (A) or an equivalent wording. It pays for theft, pilferage, non-delivery, breakage and water damage from rain or condensation, which the named-perils Clauses (B) and (C) do not. Clause 1 insures all risks of loss of or damage to the goods except what clauses 4 to 7 exclude: willful misconduct, ordinary leakage and wear, insufficient packing, inherent vice, delay, the carrier’s insolvency, nuclear risks, unseaworthiness the insured knew about, war and strikes. Under an all-risk policy you only have to show that an accidental loss occurred during the insured transit. Under (B) and (C) you have to show that a listed peril caused it.
Only up to a legal limit that has nothing to do with what the goods are worth. Under the US Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, an ocean carrier is liable for $500 per package or customary freight unit unless a higher value is declared in the bill of lading. Under the Montreal Convention, an airline is liable for 26 Special Drawing Rights per kilogram (revised December 28, 2024), roughly US$35 per kilogram. Under the Carmack Amendment, a US trucker is liable for actual loss but may limit that to a value the shipper agrees in writing, and most truckers’ bills of lading do. The carrier also keeps its statutory defenses and its notice and time limits. Cargo insurance pays the agreed insured value and leaves the recovery against the carrier to the insurer.
It depends on the shipment, so we quote it with the freight instead of publishing a price. The premium is a rate applied to the insured value. The rate depends on the commodity, how it is packed, the route and ports, the mode, the insured value and currency, the clauses chosen ((A) costs more than (C); war and strikes are priced separately), the deductible and, for regular shippers, annual volume and claims history. Send us the invoice value, the Incoterm, the commodity and the packing, and we will include cover in the quote.
Yes, but only the minimum. Under Incoterms 2020 the CIF seller must buy cargo insurance for at least 110 percent of the contract price on Institute Cargo Clauses (C) or an equivalent. That is the narrowest named-perils wording: it does not cover theft, non-delivery, breakage, water ingress or a package dropped during loading. The policy is also in the seller’s name and assigned to the buyer, and it covers only the sea leg the seller arranged. Buyers on CIF terms commonly add their own all-risk policy, or ask the seller to insure on Clauses (A), so the cover matches the loss they would actually suffer. CIP, by contrast, requires the seller to buy Clauses (A).
General average is the maritime rule that when part of the ship or cargo is deliberately sacrificed, or an extraordinary expense is incurred, to save the whole venture from a common peril, every party whose property was saved contributes in proportion to the value saved. After the Ever Given grounded in the Suez Canal in March 2021, the owner declared general average and cargo was released only against security: an insurer’s average guarantee for insured cargo, a cash deposit for uninsured cargo. All three Institute Cargo Clauses cover general average and salvage contributions, so an insured importer’s insurer posts the guarantee and pays the contribution.
Email insurance@airliftusa.com with the house bill or air waybill number, a description of the loss and the photographs. Before that, at delivery: note every exception on the delivery receipt, photograph the damage, keep the goods and packing, and give the carrier written notice at once (for concealed damage, within three days of delivery on ocean freight or 14 days on air). We will tell you whether the insurer wants a survey, help you assemble the claim letter, invoice, packing list, delivery receipt, photographs, survey report and carrier correspondence, and submit the file to the insurer. The insurer adjusts and pays the claim and then pursues the carrier.
No. Clause 4.5 of every grade of the Institute Cargo Clauses excludes loss, damage or expense caused by delay, even where an insured peril caused the delay, apart from general-average expenses. A missed selling season, a canceled order or demurrage at the port because the vessel was late are commercial losses that a cargo policy does not pay. Physical damage that happens during a delay, such as a reefer cargo spoiling after a breakdown, is a different question: it turns on whether the cause is an insured peril or an excluded one such as inherent vice.
Yes, if the goods are worth more than the airline’s liability. Under the Montreal Convention an airline is liable for cargo loss, damage or delay at 26 Special Drawing Rights per kilogram (about US$35 per kilogram at the 2024 revision) unless a higher value is declared on the air waybill and a supplementary charge paid. Air cargo is typically high value for its weight, so the gap is larger than for ocean freight: a 50 kg consignment of electronics can be worth many times what the airline would pay. Air freight is also handled and trucked at both ends, which is where most air-cargo losses happen.
You need a claim letter on your letterhead stating the amount claimed and how you calculated it; the bill of lading or air waybill; the commercial invoice and packing list; the delivery receipt or proof of delivery with the exceptions noted; photographs of the seal, container, packaging and damage; the survey report if one was commissioned; your written notice of claim to the carrier and any reply; and repair, salvage or destruction quotes where relevant. The insurer may also ask for the insurance certificate and evidence of the goods’ condition and packing at origin.
No. Cargo insurance is optional and is quoted with the freight when you ask for it, on the value you declare. We recommend it for any shipment worth more than the carrier’s legal liability, especially high-value, fragile, theft-prone or perishable goods. Cover has to be confirmed before the goods move; it cannot be arranged after a loss.