Institute Cargo Clauses (A)
All risks of loss or damage, except what is excluded
Written the inclusive way round: everything is covered unless an exclusion applies. You do not have to match your loss to a listed peril — the insurer has to point at an exclusion.
What it covers
- Accidental damage and breakage in handling or transit
- Theft, pilferage and non-delivery of a whole package
- Water damage — sea, river, rain and fresh water
- Fire, explosion, stranding, grounding, sinking, capsizing
- Overturning or derailment of land conveyance
- Collision, and jettison or washing overboard
- General average sacrifice and salvage charges
- Loading and discharge losses at a port of distress
What it does not cover
- Wilful misconduct of the insured
- Ordinary leakage, wear, and loss in weight or volume
- Insufficient or unsuitable packing or preparation
- Inherent vice or the nature of the goods themselves
- Delay — even where the delay is caused by an insured peril
- Insolvency of the carrier
- War, strikes, terrorism (buy back as add-ons)
- Deliberate damage by a wrongful act (unless bought back)
War and strikes can be bought back as separate Institute clauses — see add-ons. Delay, inherent vice and insufficient packing cannot.
When this is the right choice
Most manufactured, branded, fragile or theft-attractive cargo, and anything where a buyer, bank or letter of credit expects all-risks cover.
Compared with the others
Named perils, including water damage and washing overboard
Major casualty only — the shortest list
Understanding ICC (A)
Institute Cargo Clauses (A) is the broadest of the three standard cargo covers, and the one most international trade actually runs on. It is written on an all-risks basis, which means it responds to any accidental loss of or damage to the cargo during the insured transit unless the loss falls within a specific exclusion. The practical effect is a reversal of who has to prove what: under (A) you show that the goods arrived damaged or short, and it is the insurer that must point to an exclusion to decline.
Under the named-perils clauses (B) and (C) the burden runs the other way — you have to tie the loss to a listed peril, and a genuine loss that cannot be attributed to one is simply not covered. For containerised manufactured goods, electronics, branded consumer products, machinery and anything exposed to theft or handling damage, that difference is usually decisive, which is why sale contracts on CIF and CIP terms, and the banks behind letters of credit, so often require (A) specifically. All-risks is not all-loss: the exclusions still bite, and the ones that decide real claims — insufficient packing, inherent vice, delay, and wilful misconduct — are the same across all three clause levels.
War and strikes are excluded from the base wording at every level too, and are bought back as separate Institute clauses. Choosing (A) buys the widest cover the standard market offers; it does not remove the need to pack for the voyage, declare the goods honestly, and notify a loss promptly.
How a loss resolves under ICC (A)
A pallet of electronics arrives with two cartons missing and no sign of forced entry.
Theft and pilferage are covered under (A), so a documented shortage on a sealed container is claimable — subject to the deductible and to the packing and evidence being in order.
Rain enters through a damaged container roof and soaks the cargo in a yard before delivery.
Freshwater damage that is not vessel ingress is covered under (A). Under (B) or (C) it would not be, because neither names it as a peril.
A machine arrives corroded because it was shipped without adequate rust protection.
Likely declined at any level: this points to insufficient preparation or inherent vice, which (A) excludes just as (B) and (C) do. All-risks does not cure a packing failure.
Common misconceptions
- "All risks means everything is covered."
- It means everything except the exclusions — and packing, inherent vice, delay and war/strikes are excluded at every level. The breadth is real, but it is not unlimited.
- "If I hold (A) I never have to prove anything."
- You still have to prove the loss happened in transit and quantify it. What (A) removes is the need to match the loss to a named peril.
What would ICC (A) cost on your cargo?
The rate factor above is only one term in the calculation — commodity, route, mode and deductible move the number just as much. Price it against a real shipment and see all three clause levels side by side.
Rate a shipment at ICC (A)This page summarises the Institute Cargo Clauses (A) family in plain language. It is not the wording, and insurers issue amended and market-specific versions. The certificate, policy schedule and attached clauses issued to you govern your cover and prevail over anything here. Nothing on this page is a recommendation that ICC (A) is suitable for your cargo — see the Terms for our role.