The most common misconception in logistics is that “the carrier has insurance, so the cargo is insured”. Carrier insurance covers the carrier’s liability, not the value of your goods. These are fundamentally different things.
What that means in money
The CMR Convention caps carrier liability at 8.33 SDR per kilogram, roughly EUR 10. A 400 kg pallet of electronics worth EUR 90,000 would be compensated at up to EUR 4,000. Only a separate cargo policy covers the gap.
≈10 EUR/кгthe CMR carrier liability cap
Three levels of cover
- Clauses (C) — catastrophic events only: fire, stranding, collision
- Clauses (B) — adds natural disasters, wetting and washing overboard
- Clauses (A) — all risks, including theft and handling damage
The premium for Clauses (A) is 0.08–0.35% of the sum insured. For a EUR 90,000 consignment that is EUR 72–315. Compare that with the EUR 86,000 gap between real value and CMR compensation.