Michael Youssef Finance 370 May 5, 2009 Marine Insurance Extra Credit Marine Insurance covers the loss or damage of goods, ships, cargo, and any transport of property by which cargo is transferred. Marine Insurance also covers onshore and offshore exposure. Importers and exporters are exposed to countless financial risks when they don’t insure their international shipments. Trying to recover losses from carriers is difficult and time consuming. The best way to protect their financial interest is with marine insurance coverage. Marine Insurance relieves them of their financial exposure from physical loss or damage to their goods while in transit, since carriers have limited liability. Marine Insurance is optional for shippers, and many amateur shippers usually opt out of buying insurance for their shipment. Usually they have the mind set that such a large vessel is unsinkable, so they decide not to pay the extra to insure there shipment. However, on average there is at least one dumping of containers or sinking of a ship a week. The returned threat of pirates has also begun to cause havoc to shippers. Many maritime shippers have started to take different routes to avoid pirated waters, which results in delayed shipments, as well as the risk of capture. Many shippers learn the hard way about marine insurance, they believe that nothing bad can ever happen to them, however by the chance of luck, their specific container may have been loaded last and sits at the top rear of the ship and is subjected to dumping to save the vessel from sinking. Now the shipper is out the cost of the product and the shipment itself, resulting in a lot of expenses to recoup the losses. By insuring, it allows the risk to be carried by the shipping company and not the shipper himself. The current average cost to insure a shipment is between $3-9 dollars a pound. It may seem expensive, but the cost of a complete loss is much greater. Works Cited 1. WWW.LOGINET.EAGLEGT.COM. 6 Nov. 2008. 5 May 2009 . 2. WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM. 27 Feb. 2009. 5 May 2009 .