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Marine insurance certificate
A marine insurance certificate evidences cover for a specific consignment. Whether the seller arranges it depends on the Incoterm: CIF and CIP oblige them to insure, and every other rule leaves the buyer to do it. The level of cover differs between those two.
The essentials.
- Who insures
- Under CIF and CIP the seller. Under EXW, FCA, FOB and CFR nobody insures for you unless you arrange it yourself.1
- What the certificate shows
- The insured, the consignment, the voyage, the sum insured and the conditions of cover.
- Where it sits in the set
- Alongside the invoice, packing list and bill of lading. Under a documentary credit it is one of the documents the bank checks.
Who asks for it.
This travels with the goods wherever they go. Either Indonesia requires it on the way out, or it is an ordinary trade document that any buyer, bank and carrier expects to see.
What it does not cover.
Cover under CIF is the minimum
Unless you agree otherwise, the cover a seller must provide under CIF is the minimum level. For a valuable consignment that is worth reading before it becomes relevant.
Insurance is not a substitute for inspection
A policy pays for loss and damage in transit. It does not pay because the goods were the wrong grade, and that claim goes back to the contract and to what the inspection found.
Questions buyers ask.
Should I arrange my own cover under FOB?
Yes. Under FOB nobody is obliged to insure the goods for you, and cargo can be lost or damaged at sea whatever the paperwork says. Buyers who assume the freight quote includes insurance find out the expensive way.
What sum should be insured?
Conventionally the invoice value plus freight plus a margin, and your broker will set it against the trade norm. What matters more is reading the conditions of cover rather than the number, because the exclusions decide what actually pays.
Where this comes up.
Incoterms for Indonesian shipments
Almost every quotation out of Indonesia says FOB. For a container that is the wrong rule, and the body that writes the rules says so.
Paying an Indonesian supplier
T/T, letters of credit and documentary collection, what each actually protects, and the five rules that stop a deposit disappearing.
Sources
- 1Incoterms 2020: FCA or FOB?. ICC Academy, International Chamber of Commerce. Checked 3 August 2026.
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