Seminar Highlights Freight Liability in Russia
International freight insurer TT Club convened a special seminar at the recent conference on transport and logistics, Trans Russia in Moscow.
Lead by TT Club’s General Manager, EMEA, Kevin King and Kirill Berezov from the insurer’s long-established Russian network partner Panditrans, the seminar outlined both the changing nature of the transport operator’s liability in Russia and the idiosyncratic nature of insurance conventions applicable in the region.
TT Club believes that there is an urgent need for international freight forwarders, logistics companies and other transport operators doing regular business in Russia to understand fully the extent and nature of the liabilities that they bear when delivering customers’ freight in the country. Increasingly the services which transport operators provide to cargo owners are expanding into areas beyond the straight-forward delivery of inbound containers, to such functions as cross-docking, warehousing, re-packaging, sub-assembly and distribution.
As a consequence, the liabilities for loss and damage to cargo, as well as third party claims, alter from the traditional norms with which they have been more familiar in the past. Education is therefore required so as such transport operators do not, unwittingly open themselves up to the possibility of high value claims against which their previously adequate insurance cover may not protect them.
TT Club, with its experience of twenty plus years as a player in the Russian freight liability arena, a resourceful base in the London market and an extensive global network of correspondents, is well qualified to provide such an education.
Berezov and King took advantage of the forum provided by the annual Trans Russia Conference in Moscow in late April to address some of the issues which often present difficulties to operators in Russia.
“In answering some vexed questions, such as whether there is a limit to transport operator liability, why cargo insurance isn’t an alternative to liability cover and how careful risk management can avoid disastrous claims during a financial crisis and an upswing in criminal activity, we hope to assist operators to service trade to, within and from Russia more effectively”, said King.
Panditrans’ Berezov added, “The rules on liability in Russia can be quite different from those in other jurisdictions and without specialised knowledge and advice, many transport operators may experience a short-lived foray into the Russian freight market”.