When Should You Use Marine Insurance?

If you have a ship or cargo that needs to be shipped and need marine insurance in Singapore, you need to know what to do to ensure you get the best policy at an affordable rate. Fortunately, registering for marine insurance is a straightforward process if you have all the necessary information. However, you first need to find the ideal marine insurance company. 

Before approaching a company for a marine insurance policy, you need to do the following. 

Evaluate And Analyze Your Insurance Needs

Before approaching a potential insurer, you need to know the type of cover you need. For example, if you are a shipowner, you need to have the number of vessels you have, the routes it takes, the risks, the ship’s condition, and the loss you are likely to incur should anything go wrong. 

If you need cargo insurance, you need to know the volume of goods, the ports where the ship expects to dock, the various warehouses the cargo is expected to be stored, and the means of transport you will use, besides water transport. 

Compare Offers From Multiple Insurance Companies

Although they provide the same service, insurance companies offer different marine insurance policies, with various inclusions and exclusions. It is best to analyze offers from different insurance companies before choosing the best company that will meet your marine insurance needs. 

When choosing the ideal policy, you need to consider the cost, the coverage, the exclusions, and the clauses attached to the policy. You should also consider the time it takes for the claim to be fulfilled. 

Prepare The Necessary Documents

Once you have chosen the company and the ideal policy, you need to prepare all the documents you need to purchase marine insurance. 

If you are insuring your cargo, you may need to show the port of origin and destination, port of origin to the warehouse, and warehouse to warehouse. You also need to specify the volume of goods and their cost. 

If you are insuring your vessel, you need to know its value, the ports it will be docking, the cargo volume, the risks, the route it takes, the number of voyages a year, and the number of people it usually has onboard during each voyage. 

Ensure all the information is correct because the insurance company will use this information when fulfilling the claim. 

Go Through The Policy Before Signing

Marine insurance is one of the most flexible covers because of the nature of the insurance. Marine insurance is not like your car or home insurance because these policies are static. The value of the car and your home is known. However, marine insurance is fluid because the volume and type of cargo will change over time. 

If you are taking an annual policy, you need to know more about future voyages. Will you take the same route? Will you have the same number of the crew? Will you use the same ports? If you don’t have all this information, it is best to discuss alternatives so that you don’t fill incorrect information that may come back to bite you. 

These are some of the steps you need to take when requesting marine insurance. Due to the nature of the cover, you need to be sure you have everything covered before signing the policy.