Caravel Cargo writes marine and inland cargo cover for goods moving into and across Africa. We price the chain of custody, not the flag on the vessel, because we know who is in that chain.
The premise
Marine cargo insurance was built for the voyage. In these corridors the voyage is the safe part. Goods are lost, damaged, pilfered and delayed in the hands of clearing agents, transit firms, truckers and warehouse keepers the insurer has never heard of. So the market prices the vessel, loads the rate for the region, and hopes. We do not have to hope.
A container is only as safe as the least reliable firm that touches it between the quay and the customer.
The reason we built Caravel Cargo.
The difference
We hold a living graph of the licensed customs brokers, transit companies, warehouses and surveyors operating in these markets: who is licensed, who is active, who shares an address with whom, and who has been on the wrong end of a claim. That is what we underwrite against.
Why we can do this
We cleared our own containers, chased our own trucks and argued our own claims across West Africa. We know which agents deliver and which ones lose things. That knowledge is the underwriting.
Licensed customs brokers, transit firms, warehouse operators and surveyors, drawn from the official registers and the legal gazettes, linked by shared infrastructure and corporate events, and scored by size and activity. It is the only map of the chain of custody in these markets that we know of.
Africa's multilateral trade bank and the UN's economic commission for the region appointed us to build and run their trade exchange. The goods on it need cover. Our origination is the flow we already operate, not a broker panel.
Our trade credit book and our cargo book look at the same importers, the same corridors and the same agents. A counterparty who pays on time and clears cleanly is a different risk from one who does neither, and we can tell them apart.
The book
Cargo and marine cover for goods moving into and across Africa, warehouse to warehouse, originated through our own network.
Institute Cargo Clauses A, B and C on sea and air freight into the region, with war, strikes and riots cover where the corridor calls for it.
The road and rail legs from port to destination, including transhipment, that the market excludes or sub-limits. Underwritten on the named transit firm, not the map.
Goods at rest in bonded and open warehouses, screened on the operator. Short-term and open cover.
Annual open cover for exporters and traders with regular flows, declared by shipment, priced by corridor and chain of custody rather than by a flat regional rate.
Working with us
We are seeking delegated authority to write this book under a coverholder binder, or facultative lines on named flows. Our underwriting basis, the chain-of-custody screen and loss experience are available under NDA.
For marine carriers, reinsurers and Lloyd's syndicates.
Request the submissionIf you move goods into these markets and your current cover stops at the port gate, tell us the corridor, the goods and who handles them. We will tell you whether we can look at it.
For exporters, commodity traders, freight forwarders and their brokers.
Bring us a flowQuestions
The sea leg is a commodity. The inland leg and the storage leg are not, and in these corridors they are where the money is lost. Insurers price them with a blanket surcharge because they cannot see who is handling the goods. We can, so we can price the good chain below the market and decline the bad one.
Yes, warehouse to warehouse, on named transit firms and warehouse operators we have screened. That is the product. If the chain of custody fails our screen we say so, and we can usually name an alternative agent that passes.
Through surveyors we already work with on the ground, appointed before the loss where the flow is regular. A survey report from someone we know arrives faster and means more than one from a name off a list.
Official customs and transit registers, legal gazettes and corporate filings, cross-linked and scored, plus a decade of our own shipments through the same agents. Provenance is kept on every fact. The counterparty side of the same record is at datacaravel.com.
Not yet in our own right. We are establishing our permissions and will write through an authorised principal in the interim. We would rather say that plainly than be vague about it.
Submission materials, the chain-of-custody screen and our underwriting basis are available under NDA.