Harvest · low-loader · heating and spoilage
Goods in transit insurance for agricultural businesses through Avéro Achmea
In agriculture the load is often live, fragile or extremely heavy. That turns a conversation about transport into a conversation about exclusions.
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Deze pagina in het Nederlands: Goederentransportverzekering voor agrarische bedrijven via Avéro Achmea.
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In brief
Finass brokers with Avéro Achmea for agricultural businesses and compares the conditions objectively with those of several insurers. For a grower, livestock farmer or agricultural contractor, transport involves three very different flows: harvested produce and planting material to the auction, the buyer or the processor, bulk goods such as feed, seed and fertiliser, and machinery that go from field to field on a low-loader or trailer. Each flow carries its own risk and its own provision in the policy.
The most vulnerable flow is the first. Flowers, plants, vegetables and fruit lose value through heat, damp, heating or standing still, and that damage falls precisely under the nature and inherent defect of the goods and is excluded as standard. Only with an express clause for failure of the refrigeration or climate control, with requirements as to maintenance and temperature recording, does such damage come into view. What that involves is set out on the page about refrigerated transport.
With machinery something else applies. If a tractor or a self-propelled machine travels on the road under its own power, that is taking part in traffic and the insurance obligation of Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM)applies; damage to the machine itself then belongs on plant and machinery insurance. If that same machine is carried as cargo on a low-loader, it is a transit risk. Those two policies have to connect seamlessly, otherwise argument arises about what the machine was at the moment of the loss.
This page deals with one situation. The full overview is on Compare goods in transit insurance.
What to look out for
Four provisions that make the difference in agricultural transport more often than the sum insured.
Live animals fall outside goods cover
On an ordinary goods in transit policy, livestock, poultry and fish are excluded. Death, injury or stress during carriage calls for separate livestock transport cover with its own conditions on loading density, journey time and climate. Do not assume that an agricultural package includes this; it is almost always a separate arrangement.
Heating, spoilage and loss of weight
Hay that heats, potatoes that rot, onions that sprout or grain that takes up moisture: that is damage caused by the nature of the goods and not by an external event. Natural loss of weight in transit is not paid for either. Record the moisture content and temperature at loading, because that determines where the cause lay if there is any argument.
Moving goods on your own yard is not transit
Moving things within the business, from barn to shed or across your own land, generally does not count as transit. Damage there falls under the business contents or stock section of your agricultural package, provided that location appears on the policy schedule. Anyone who confuses the two reports a claim under the wrong section and loses time.
Loading, securing and covering
Damage caused by overloading, insufficient securing or the absence of a tarpaulin is excluded. With open carriage of bulk or bales that is a real ground for rejection, even where a gust of wind was the immediate cause. If your cropping plan changes or you start carrying different products as a matter of course, tell us; Article 7:928 of the Dutch Civil Code requires you to declare correctly and Article 7:930 of the Dutch Civil Code governs the consequences.
What does your premium depend on?
- Type of agricultural produce — bulk, planting material or packed produce
- Value per journey — a full auction run weighs more heavily than individual journeys
- Seasonal pattern — harvest peaks concentrate the risk into a few weeks
- Refrigeration or climate control — including it calls for maintenance and recording
- Type of vehicle — a closed vehicle, a tipper, a low-loader or a trailer
- Distance and destination — local journeys or export abroad
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
What is covered during carriage
| Situation | Extended | Comprehensive |
|---|---|---|
| A trailer with planting material overturns on a bend on the way to the auction | Yes | Yes |
| A consignment of seed potatoes is stolen from an unguarded lorry park overnight | No | Provided that |
| A combine harvester is scratched and dented while standing as cargo on the low-loader | No | Yes |
| A pallet of crates falls off the tail lift while being unloaded at the buyer | Provided that | Yes |
| The tractor itself is damaged after you sink into the verge with a full trailer | No | No |
| A seed drill borrowed from your neighbour is damaged while you carry it for him | No | Provided that |
For third-party property and for loading and unloading an express provision is needed; the assumption that it is included does not hold up when you claim.
Frequently asked questions
The questions we are asked most often about this.
Is my harvest insured on the journey to the auction?
Damage from a covered event such as a collision, fire or overturning, yes. Loss of quality through heat, damp or delay, no, because that is attributed to the nature of the produce. If you do want to cover that, a clause for temperature damage or delay is needed, with the associated requirements as to the installation and the recording of its performance.
What about a machine on a low-loader?
It is then cargo and falls under the transit cover, provided its weight and dimensions were declared on the application. If the machine travels on the road under its own power, it is a motor vehicle and the compulsory liability insurance under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM) applies. Own-damage to the machine belongs in both cases on the plant and machinery cover or on a separate transit clause.
Does an agricultural contractor carry my goods at his own risk?
No. An agricultural contractor or haulier is liable within the limits of the agreed carriage conditions, and that limit is tied to weight. With light produce of high value, little of it remains. Your own goods cover pays out on the event and then pursues recovery itself; that saves you an argument in the harvest season.
What should I do if the load arrives damaged?
Do not let the consignment be sold off or destroyed before a surveyor has seen the damage, take photographs at unloading and note the reservation on the consignment note. Keep temperature data and weighbridge tickets. Report the loss to the insurer at once; Article 7:941 of the Dutch Civil Code obliges you to report in good time and to cooperate in the investigation into cause and extent.
Read more
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