Captives and self-insurance
Carrying your own cargo risk deliberately, with reinsurance above a retention.
How cover is placed
A group forms its own insurance subsidiary, or simply retains the risk, and buys reinsurance or excess cover above a chosen retention. Premium that would have gone to the market stays inside the group, and so does the loss.
Who carries the risk
You do, up to the retention. Above it, the reinsurers or excess insurers you have bought.
Typical line size
A retention sized to the group’s balance sheet, with catastrophe protection above it.
Strengths
- Keeps the margin the market would have taken on predictable losses
- Cover designed exactly around your trade
- Direct access to reinsurance pricing
Trade-offs
- Only rational at real volume, with capital and governance behind it
- You inherit the claims-handling and survey burden
- Certificates for letters of credit still need acceptable paper behind them
- Regulatory and tax complexity that needs specialist advice
When to look here first
Large shippers with stable loss history, the capital to hold a retention, and enough premium spend that the market’s margin is worth reclaiming.
How a claim is handled
Yours, or a third-party administrator you appoint. The saving comes with the work.
What filing a claim involves →Other channels
Syndicates subscribing to a risk through a broker, with capacity for the awkward and the very large.
Balance-sheet insurers writing cargo directly or through brokers, on their own paper and wording.
Underwriting on delegated authority from an insurer — the channel behind most instant cargo cover.
This page describes how the cargo market is structured. It names no insurer and asserts no relationship between InsuranceScanner and any market — we have no published panel yet. Nothing here is a recommendation that a particular channel or cover is suitable for you; see the Terms for our role.