Download our Stock Throughput & Cargo Quick Reference Guide
Wednesday, October 14, 2026
Stock Throughput, Project Cargo, and Bulk Cargo: The Questions Agents Ask Most
Download our Stock Throughput & Cargo Quick Reference Guide
What is stock throughput insurance?
What's the difference between stock throughput insurance and cargo insurance?
Where does the gap between cargo and property insurance usually show up?
It typically extends to wind, flood, and earthquake automatically too, without the separate sublimits a standard property policy usually applies to those perils. That matters most for accounts whose storage or distribution footprint sits in a catastrophe-exposed region.Who needs stock throughput insurance?
The questions above cover the most common cargo coverage gap, but additional questions often come up when agents handle hard-to-place cargo accounts with specific coverage needs.What is project cargo insurance?
What is bulk cargo insurance?
How do I know which program an account needs?
Not sure which one fits an account in front of you? Send us the details, and we'll review it with you.
Wednesday, September 16, 2026
Jones Act Waiver Extended: Narrower Scope and More Answers for Underwriters
On August 11, the Trump administration approved a second 90-day extension of the Jones Act waiver first issued in March, effective August 17 through mid-November. The waiver remains tied to elevated fuel and shipping costs, the same pressure that prompted the original suspension. But this round comes with real changes: the sweeping exemption from March has been replaced with seven named commodities, and the approval process has tightened considerably.
SCOPE OF THE EXTENSION
Where the March waiver authorized foreign-flagged and foreign-crewed vessels to carry a broad list of cargoes between U.S. ports with minimal case-by-case review, this extension narrows both the cargo list and the approval process.
CBP and MARAD guidance confirms the waiver now covers seven specific commodities: gasoline, jet fuel, crude oil, naphtha, LNG, soybean oil, and fertilizers. Each voyage requires advance approval, cargo, purpose, and vessel information submitted and reviewed, plus a post-voyage report filed within 10 days of completion. The waiver runs August 17, 2026, through November 15, 2026; cargo must be loaded before the expiration date.
CREW INJURY LIABILITY REMAINS UNCHANGED
As with the March waiver, this extension affects only the coastwise carriage rules under 46 U.S.C. §55102. It does not modify seamen's rights under 46 U.S.C. §30104. Foreign crew operating on vessels in coastwise service under the waiver do not acquire special injury remedies, nor are existing remedies diminished. What has changed is the paper trail: where the March waiver left little record of which vessels were running repetitive domestic voyages, the new voyage-by-voyage approval and reporting requirements create a documented history for the first time.
IMPLICATIONS FOR MARINE INSURERS
- Underwriting should treat the narrower cargo list and documented approval chain as more workable than the March exemption, but should still confirm whether a vessel's insurance history and classification records match the coastwise exposure it's taking on.
- Claims teams should expect the same foreign-crew Jones Act exposure flagged in March; voyage-specific approval doesn't change the underlying legal question, it only creates better records to evaluate it against.
- Compliance reviews should request the vessel-specific approval and post-voyage report rather than relying on a general assumption that "the waiver covers this," since approval is granted voyage by voyage, not vessel by vessel.
- Agents and brokers should confirm that a client's foreign-flag ownership and financing structure, along with flag-state and sanctions status, has been reviewed alongside the usual P&I and Jones Act questions.
CONCLUSION
The extension is smaller and slower than the waiver it replaces, and for marine insurers, that's the more useful version. A shorter cargo list and a documented, voyage-specific approval chain give underwriters something the March waiver didn't: an actual record to evaluate exposure against, rather than a blanket exemption with no way to tell which vessels were running one-off cargo versus a standing domestic trade lane.
Ian Greenway
Wednesday, August 26, 2026
The Equipment That Did Not Fit Any Form
How specialized marine equipment is outpacing marine contractors insurance forms, and what agents need to ask when placing marine equipment coverage.
A marine construction company added a remotely operated underwater vehicle to their fleet. The ROV handled pipeline inspection, hull surveys, and site assessment. It cost $340,000 and became central to the company's work within two years.
When the agent went to renew, nobody could agree on where the ROV belonged. The inland marine carrier said it was a watercraft, and its equipment floater sublimited electronic equipment to a fraction of the ROV's value while excluding the underwater environment entirely. The hull carrier said it wasn't a vessel and declined to schedule it. The GL carrier questioned whether the ROV's operations created liability that the base form didn't address.
Eighteen months in, the company still didn't have proper coverage. Then the ROV was damaged during a survey. No policy responded correctly, and the company absorbed most of the loss.
The ROV wasn't unusual. Dozens of marine contractors are running the same equipment right now. The forms just haven't caught up.
Why Specialized Marine Equipment Creates Placement Problems
Standard marine insurance forms were written for the equipment categories that existed when the forms were developed: cranes, heavy equipment, watercraft, electronic systems. Equipment that doesn't fit one category cleanly falls into the gaps between forms, with each carrier pointing to a different exclusion.
The industry is producing new equipment faster than the market is producing forms to cover it. The types that most often create placement problems on marine contractors’ accounts:- Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) for underwater inspection, survey, and construction
- Unmanned aerial systems (drones) for vessel inspection and site survey
- Autonomous surface vessels for data collection and patrol
- Subsea tooling for pipeline repair, salvage, and offshore work
- Integrated sensor and monitoring platforms
Where the Coverage Gaps Appear
The failure points that show up most often when specialized equipment is involved in a claim:
- Inland marine floaters whose electronic sublimits don't reflect the value of sophisticated systems
- Hull policies that exclude equipment not permanently installed on a scheduled vessel
- Marine equipment floaters that exclude waterborne operation the moment the equipment enters the water
- GL policies that don't address liability from operating unmanned or remotely operated systems
How to Approach Scheduling on Marine Accounts
- Inventory the equipment and what it does. Not just make, model, and value, but where it operates and what happens when it fails. Equipment that works in multiple environments needs coverage that follows it across all of them.
- Identify each form covering it, and what each excludes. A piece of equipment that appears covered often isn't, once the exclusions are read carefully.
- Check for third-party liability the GL doesn't address. Systems operating near infrastructure or on third-party vessels can create scenarios standard GL forms weren't written to handle.
- Bring the account to a marine specialist before binding. Standard carriers write what they're comfortable with and exclude the rest. A marine MGA can structure coverage that doesn't leave gaps at the edges of what standard forms will write.
Have an account you'd like us to look at?
Reach us at Ask@LIGMarine.com or call (727) 578-2800.
Send submissions to Submit@LIGMarine.com or visit LIGMarine.com/Apps.
Tuesday, July 28, 2026
The Renewal That Turned Into a Coverage Audit
The account had been placed by the previous agent over several years, one policy at a time. Hull coverage with one carrier. Marine General Liability (MGL) with another. Property through a standard market. Workers’ Comp (WC) with a third carrier. An umbrella placed separately. On paper, it looked complete.
When the new agent took over at renewal and started asking questions, the picture changed. The hull policy excluded coverage while vessels were out of the water for maintenance. The MGL had a watercraft exclusion that applied to owned vessels. The property policy covered the building and equipment but had a sublimit for docks and piers that hadn't been updated in six years. And the umbrella didn't follow form over the MGL because the underlying forms didn't meet the umbrella carrier's requirements.
Nobody had done anything wrong. Each policy had been placed in good faith. But they had never been designed to work together, and the gaps between them were significant. A fuel spill during a haul-out would have exposed the account to uninsured liability from three different directions simultaneously.
The agent brought the account to LIG, a commercial marine MGA with access to coordinated marine package programs built for exactly this situation. A marine package program replaced the patchwork, the coverage gaps closed, and the premium came in lower than the sum of the separate policies.
Download our Marine Package Program Field Guide
Why Piecemeal Commercial Marine Placements Create Coverage Gaps
The specific failure points that appear most often on inherited marine accounts:
- Watercraft exclusions on MGL policies that apply to vessels the client owns or operates, leaving a gap that neither the hull nor the P&I policies fill
- Property policies that sublimit or exclude docks, piers, and waterfront structures that represent significant value
- Hull policies with gaps during haul-out, maintenance periods, or transits not covered under the base form
- Umbrella policies that don't follow form over marine underlying policies, leaving excess exposure above the point where the umbrella attaches
- Marine workers' compensation and Longshore coverage that hasn't been reviewed since operations changed, with employees now qualifying for different jurisdictional coverage than what was originally placed
What a Marine Package Program Actually Does
A marine package program isn't just bundled coverage with a single premium. It's coordinated marine coverage designed to work as a system, with forms that coordinate across lines and limits that stack correctly. The practical difference shows up at claim time, when a loss triggers multiple coverages and the question becomes which policy responds and in what order.On a properly structured marine package, that question has a clear answer. On a piecemeal placement, it often doesn't.
Marine package programs are particularly valuable on accounts that standard markets find difficult to place cleanly, and on commercial marine accounts that have grown beyond their original coverage structure. The accounts that benefit most:Mixed operations spanning vessel, waterfront, and land-based exposures
- Multiple coverage lines that need to coordinate at the edges
- Operations that have grown or changed since coverage was originally structured
- Accounts where the current premium is high relative to what an integrated program would cost
- Any account where nobody has reviewed how the policies interact since they were placed
How to Evaluate an Inherited Marine Account
- Does the MGL policy have a watercraft exclusion, and if so, what does it exclude? Owned vessel liability needs to be covered somewhere. If the hull policy doesn't pick it up and MGL excludes it, there's a gap.
- How are docks, piers, and waterfront structures valued and covered? Sublimits set years ago often don't reflect current replacement costs.
- Are there gaps in hull coverage during haul-out or maintenance? Many standard hull forms have restrictions that leave vessels exposed during the periods when they're most vulnerable to damage.
- Does the umbrella follow form over all underlying marine policies? If the underlying forms don't meet the umbrella's requirements, the excess layer doesn't attach correctly.
- Has the workforce structure changed since Longshore and WC were last reviewed? Operations that have expanded to include more vessel work may have employees who now qualify under different jurisdictional coverage.
Not sure where to start? We put together a two-page field guide that walks through exactly what to look for on an inherited marine account, plus how the five core coverage lines work together in a package.
Download the Marine Package Program Field Guide
Have an account you'd like us to look at? Reach us at Ask@LIGMarine.com or call (727) 578-2800. Send submissions to Submit@LIGMarine.com or visit LIGMarine.com/Apps.
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
The $4.2M Fire That Standard GL Didn't Cover
A small shipyard was performing routine maintenance on a commercial fishing vessel—welding repairs, engine work, nothing unusual. During the welding, a spark ignited some residual fuel vapors. The resulting fire didn't just damage the vessel being repaired—it spread to two adjacent boats docked nearby.
Total loss: $4.2 million across three vessels.
What Ship Repairers Legal Liability Actually Covers
What it typically covers:
What it doesn't cover:
Why it matters:
Who Actually Needs SRLL (It's More Than Just Shipyards)
Traditional shipyards and boatyards
Facilities that haul out vessels, perform repairs, conduct surveys, or store boats. This is the obvious category, but agents sometimes miss it for smaller yards.Marine repair and maintenance contractors
Marina operators who perform any vessel services
Marine contractors doing vessel-related work
Why SRLL Gets Missed (Even on Obvious Accounts)
The "We Mostly Do Land-Based Work" Problem
The "The Vessel Owner Has Insurance" Problem
The "We've Never Had a Claim" Problem
What to Do When a Client Pushes Back on SRLL
How to Identify SRLL Exposure Before It's a Problem
Jones Act Waivers and Foreign Seamen: The Liability Exposure No One Is Talking About
The headlines have been hard to miss: "Jones Act waiver reshapes U.S. oil trade as foreign tankers flood domestic routes." It sounds dramatic, and in some ways it is. But if you dig past the surface, the story is more nuanced than the headlines suggest.
Reports indicate that at least 60 waiver-approved shipments have been completed, with most heading to California, Florida, and Puerto Rico. What those headlines don't tell you is that this isn't 60 separate vessels making one-time runs. It's a smaller number of ships making repetitive voyages on the same domestic routes.
That distinction matters.
Why Repetition Changes the Legal Picture
In previous posts, I've covered how foreign seamen serving on foreign-flag vessels can potentially claim Jones Act protections when injured. The short version: U.S. courts have, in certain circumstances, extended Jones Act status to foreign nationals when the facts support it.
What we haven't seen yet is a case involving a foreign seaman injured on a vessel sailing under a Jones Act waiver, repeatedly, between two U.S. ports.
We have been unable to find any case law that directly addresses this scenario. But it's coming.
The Argument Plaintiff's Attorneys Will Make
Picture this in a courtroom: "Not only was my client injured on a vessel sailing directly between two U.S. ports -- but this vessel had been doing exactly that, over and over again, as part of an established pattern of commerce."
That's a more persuasive argument than a one-time voyage. Courts have historically looked at the totality of a vessel's operations when evaluating Jones Act claims. Repetition and pattern don't hurt that argument. They strengthen it.
The Coverage Question Nobody Is Asking
Here's the question that isn't getting enough attention: did the P&I programs on these vessels ever contemplate this exposure? Most foreign-flag vessel insurance programs are written with international trade in mind -- not repeated domestic coastwise voyages under a U.S. regulatory waiver. Whether Jones Act liability for injured seamen is actually covered under those programs is an open question -- and one worth raising with carriers now, before a claim forces the issue.
This Is a "When," Not an "If"
Given the volume of shipments being reported and the repetitive nature of these routes, it's not a matter of whether a Jones Act claim will emerge from this situation. It's a matter of when.
The frustrating reality is that resolution will take years -- this fact pattern has never been tested in court, and these cases move slowly. If and when the waivers end, no new exposure is created. But the voyages that have already occurred don't disappear from the record. Any seaman injured during this window still has a potential claim, and those cases will outlast the waivers by years.
Have questions about marine liability coverage or Jones Act exposure for your clients? Reach us at Ask@LIGMarine.com or call (727) 578-2800.
Ready to submit? Send accounts to Submit@LIGMarine.com or visit LIGMarine.com/Apps.
Follow us on LinkedIn for marine insurance insights and resources to help you navigate the risks on your book.
Ian Greenway
Tuesday, May 12, 2026
Before the First Storm of the Season: The Conversations You Should Have With Your Marine Clients Now
Hurricane season doesn't announce itself with much warning. One week, there's a tropical wave being monitored in the Atlantic. The next, it has a name, a track, and a wall of moratoriums behind it.
That's the moment agents don't want to be having coverage conversations for the first time.The value of a proactive agent isn't measured when everything goes smoothly. It's measured when a storm is three days out, and a client calls with questions. The agents who proactively reached out in May are the ones clients remember, recommend, and stay with. They're also the ones with documented conversations and protected E&O.
Hurricane season officially opens June 1. For agents with marine accounts on their book, now is the right time to reach out, not because something is necessarily wrong, but because an informed client is a better-protected client, and that conversation is easier before a storm exists than after one does.
What the Conversation Should Cover
This isn't a coverage audit. It's an advisory check-in. A few topics worth raising with marine clients before the season gets underway:How their deductible actually works in a named storm.
Most clients think about their standard deductible. Many don't realize that a separate, often significantly higher deductible applies when the cause of loss is a named storm. On a percentage basis, a named storm deductible on a large vessel, a marina facility, or a waterfront operation can represent a substantial out-of-pocket exposure. Walking a client through what that number actually looks like in dollars, relative to their current insured values, is the kind of conversation they remember.
Why the timing window is shorter than they think.
Once a storm is being actively tracked, carriers issue moratoriums. New policies, endorsements, and coverage changes stop. If a client has added a vessel, expanded their operation, or made any changes since their last renewal, the time to address those is now, not when a named storm is already in the Gulf. Agents who flag this proactively are doing their clients a genuine service.
Vessel securing obligations.
Hull and Machinery policies typically include a sue and labor clause that obligates the insured to take reasonable steps to prevent or minimize a covered loss. Many clients aren't aware this exists. A brief conversation about securing protocols, what reasonable preparation looks like for their specific vessels, and why documentation matters is worth having before it becomes relevant.
Workforce exposure for applicable accounts.
For marine contractors, shipyards, and vessel operators, the days before and after a named storm are among the most active and highest-risk periods for workers. Employees securing vessels, staging equipment, or performing post-storm recovery on or near navigable water may be in Longshore jurisdiction. If an agent hasn't confirmed that coverage is in place and appropriately structured for storm operations, this is the time to do it.
The E&O Angle
Proactive client communication is one of the most effective E&O protections an agent has. A documented conversation in May that confirms a client understands their named storm deductible, knows what their securing obligations are, and has been made aware of moratorium timing is a very different position to be in than one where none of that was discussed before a loss occurred.LIG is here to support those conversations. If a review surfaces accounts that need a closer look before the season opens, we're ready to help.
Questions about a specific account? Reach us at Ask@LIGMarine.com or call (727) 578-2800.
Ready to submit? Send accounts to Submit@LIGMarine.com or visit LIGMarine.com/Apps.
Follow us on LinkedIn for marine insurance insights and resources to help you navigate the risks on your book.






