Important aspects of marine cargo in international trade
Tuesday, 23 July 2013 01:18
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Highlights of the Shippers’ Academy Colombo workshop
In the wake of the recent fire at the Colombo Port which cost importers millions of rupees worth of damage to cargo, the Shippers’ Academy Colombo –SAC organised an industry awareness workshop on 11 July 2013 at the Sri Lanka Foundation. The workshop objective was to refresh the industry knowledge on basics on cargo insurance.
Speaking at the event the CEO of the SAC, Rohan Masakorala highlighted that cargo owners must first use correct trading terms and enter into proper sales contacts before shipping goods. He also said many shippers use the wrong terminology when using international commercial terms and suffer with unwanted costs later.
The Keynote Speaker at the event, Udeni Kiridena (GM Non Life from Asian Alliance Insurance and the immediate past president of the Insurance Institute of Sri Lanka), highlighted the importance of getting the insurance policy and the clauses right at the inception.
Kiridena said: “Marine cargo insurance plays a small but a very important role in international trade and as such is considered as one of the key factors in promoting trade between countries, protecting consignments against fortuitous losses.”
“Marine cargo insurance protects your cargo on a warehouse to warehouse basis as per Institute Cargo Clauses which is internationally accepted. However, it is important to specify the supplier’s warehouse and the buyer’s warehouse for full coverage,” he explained.
“It is of utmost importance that all concerned, including the assured, consignee and their agents go through the Marine Cargo Insurance Policy issued to them very carefully. If it does not confirm to their requirements and/or contains any errors or omissions, it is a must to be brought to the notice of the underwriter in writing immediately, before the commencement of the risk.” In his presentation, Kiridena further enlightened the large gathering on important aspects to a cover.
These included types of policies, categories, special features, types of cargo covers, perils covered by institute cargo clause, C, B and A, common exclusions additional covers and claims process, etc.
The panel discussion and the Q&A session was joined by Kumar Muttiah, from AIA Insurance, Tanuj Edward from Asian Alliance Insurance and Sean Van Dort, Vice Chairman of the Sri Lanka Shippers’ Council and Masakorala from the Academy. The audience had many questions pertaining to cargo insurance and Kumar Muttiah also highlighted the importance of getting the trading terms correct and understanding the trading terms properly so that risk coverage can be divided professionally between the buyer and the seller at the time of the sales contract.
The Shippers’ Academy CEO explained that they will be conducting training courses in the relevant subjects as short certificate courses as they have developed a syllabus for this particular area of training.
