Take the example of a shipment unfortunately going wrong, for instance a container of electronics valued at around $180,000 that arrived at destination with moisture damage. The aftermath of such accident can be extremely slow and frustrating, in an industry already complicated and plagued with change as the logistics one. Months can go by with parties pointing fingers at each other, reaching only a partial settlement and with legal fees that take away from whatever was recovered. In this example, the shipment can be insured with great coverage, but the process can be a broken one, with no solution in sight.

The question most shippers never think to ask

Shippers spend enormous amounts of energy optimizing freight rates, benchmarking carriers, negotiating transit times, tracking containers in real time, and more. But when it comes to cargo insurance, most companies end up either:

• Buying a standalone annual open cover policy and hope it's enough.
• Adding insurance through a freight forwarder or broker without really understanding the terms.
• Assuming the carrier's liability covers us — which, almost always, it does not

To avoid bad surprises and losses, companies should really ask themselves beforehand: “Who, exactly, will be in my corner when I need to make a claim? How close are they to knowing what happened to my cargo?" These questions can change how companies think about where to buy coverage.

Why proximity matters

Insurance works best when the insurer has full visibility into the risk they are covering. A doctor who examines a patient regularly writes a better health assessment than one who has no idea of the history. A home insurer who has surveyed a property before understands it better than one working from a postcode.

Cargo is no different. The party closest to a shipment — the one who booked the vessel space, coordinated the inland haulage and managed the port handling — has a quality of information that no external insurer can fully replicate. And when something goes wrong, that proximity doesn't just help with understanding what happened but instead shapes how quickly the right people get involved, how smoothly documentation flows, and how fast a fair settlement can be reached.

A compelling case for a different approach

Insurance brokers and standalone cargo insurers play an important role in global trade.

For complex, multi-modal shipments, large commodity trades, or specialized cargo that requires bespoke underwriting, working with a specialist broker is absolutely the right call. They bring expertise, market access, and advocacy that matters in the right circumstances. But for the vast majority of commercial shipments — standard containerized cargo, regular trade lanes, known commodities — there's a compelling case for a different approach. One that's simpler, better priced and built around the party who already knows your cargo better than anyone.

What are the five specific advantages of buying cargo insurance directly from your shippers, particularly when they're a large, established logistics provider operating at scale?

Discover more in the second part of this essay, where we will look at:

• Why per-shipment coverage beats annual open cover for most shippers.
• How large shippers pass institutional pricing down to their clients.
• What seamless claims look like in practice
• Five questions to ask your logistics partner today.

Stay tuned for more and discover more with Maersk Cargo Risk Management and Maersk Logistics Insights