When people think about marine insurance, they can naturally gravitate towards boats or sometimes large ships stacked with containers at sea. It's a fair assumption given the reference "Marine". What often surprises people, however, is that a large number of losses have nothing to do with the water at all. Many losses happen before cargo reaches a vessel or after it has been unloaded. Warehouses, distribution centres, loading docks, transport depots and even customer premises can all present exposures that are just as important as the voyage itself. For brokers, understanding where losses actually occur can help uncover uninsured exposures and ensure clients have the right cover in place.

Trailer fires are appearing more frequently in carriers loss histories. And the cause isn’t what most people assume. It’s not cargo type, it’s not hot works, it’s not a one-off. It’s trailers - how they’re maintained, and how they’re being operated. And it’s the load that pays the price.