OREANDA-NEWS. On August 10, 2009 The specialists of the Transport Risks Insurance Centre established on the basis of ROSNO’s North-Western Directorate have developed, introduced and tested the new set of programs contemplating protection of cargo and carriers’ interests. The test sales have brought a considerable volume of collected insurance premium. The Management Board of OJSC IC ROSNO has classified interim results of an experimental launch of the new product line as positive, and decided to start implementation of this program in the territory supervised by other regional directorates of the company, reported the press-centre of ROSNO.

The new line of cargo insurance products provides clients with a number of advantages. Firstly, each client can independently adjust the terms of insurance and select the protection level in accordance with his or her needs and financial condition. Secondly, the presented products are notable for their transparent insured accident classification system. Thirdly, the distinctions between products inside the product line are conditioned by the mechanism determining the insurer’s liability and significantly varying the rate. In this case, the main advantages of the general policy — lower cost of insurance accompanied with larger cargo turnover, insurance coverage of each and every cargo and simplified document circulation — are retained in full.

According to the estimates by ROSNO experts, the annual volume of Russian cargo insurance market may equal up to 10 bn roubles. The road transport insurance sector is growing most rapidly. Cargo haulages are not actively insured, accounting for no more than 35% of the total volume of shipments made by the companies operating in Russia. For comparison, in Europe, the same indicator equals 85% despite the current crisis. The major market retardant, according to ROSNO’s experts, is insufficiently high level of insurance culture and the country’s unstable economic situation.

The urgency of implementing the new cargo insurance program this year is conditioned by several factors: primarily, the increased tendency among manufacturers, transport operators, importers and other participants of the logistical chain to lower their costs and eliminate possible losses in course of cargo transportation, as well as improvement and organization of transport corridors.

Simultaneously with the launch of new cargo insurance products, the transport operator risk insurance program has been updated as well. The so-called CMR/Waybill insurance policy has gained excellent reputation among carriers and forwarders, and now it is increasingly popular. Mr. Dmitry Korpusov, Deputy Head of Corporate Sales Department of IC ROSNO, and Deputy Head of ROSNO’s North-Western Directorate, comments the new offer for transport operators as follows: "For the last 2 years, there has been an increasing number of cases where courts recognized the carrier’s liability insurance contracts as null and void. This trend has prompted FSSN officials to make public statements to the effect that law should not be violated in form of insurance coverage of road carriers’ liability for breach of contract. In order to guarantee adequate and lawful protection of the insurants’ and insurers’ interests, ROSNO’s Transport Risks Insurance Centre has elaborated a new concept: insurance coverage of transport operators’ property interests on the basis of cargo insurance regulations. The new calculation program has served as a basis for adjustment of pricing policy, and insurants are now able to choose an optimal risk package at affordable price, while the revised risk package led to simplified loss settlement procedures. From now on, the insured accident is the loss of, or damage to, the cargo due to any reason stipulated in the insurance contract".

The policies for new products are sold by the Moscow Regional Directorate and by the branches of ROSNO’s North-Western and Central Directorates.