Marine, inland waterway and aviation: sailing area and crew
A vessel or aircraft falls outside motor vehicle legislation and outside ordinary business policies: hull, liability and crew are three separate contracts here, each with its own area and its own limits.
The calculator and the quote form below are in Dutch. Prefer to do this in English? Email info@finassverzekert.nl or call 072 - 509 24 56 and we will take it from there.
Work out your own premium with the calculator.
Enter your details; you will receive a proposal within one working day.
We compare the offerings of several insurers
An adviser checks whether the cover suits your activities
A premium indication, not personal advice. Prefer to talk it through? Call 072 - 509 24 56.
In brief
The insurance obligation under Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM) applies to motor vehicles on the road and does not affect your vessel. For aircraft there are European requirements for minimum liability cover, and in practice port authorities, lessors, charterers and financiers require cover through the contract. Your liability itself follows from Article 6:162 of the Dutch Civil Code, supplemented by the transport law regime applying to the journey.
That regime changes along the way. Sea transport, inland shipping, air transport and the road leg to the quay or the freight shed each have their own basis of liability and their own limits, usually tied to weight or the number of packages. On a multimodal consignment the place where the damage arose determines which regime applies, and that place is often impossible to establish afterwards. Cover and limits therefore have to join up leg by leg, not consignment by consignment.
Then there is the hull: the vessel or aircraft itself. There the heart of the policy is not the value but the area of navigation or flight, the class and the validity of certificates and surveys. If it concerns a pleasure craft rather than commercial operation, that runs along a completely different line; see the cover for yachts. Finance through financial lease also imposes requirements on the cover and on who benefits from it.
What does insurance for sea, inland waterway and air transport cover?
The structure of the cover in three parts, with an overview per situation below.
The basics
Liability
AVB for property damage and injury, BAV for professional errors.
Damage to third parties
Employers' liability
Care, custody and control as an extension
Your business
Assets and continuity
Business contents, goods and lost turnover during downtime.
Business contents at replacement value as new
Goods at cost price
Business interruption or additional costs
If you employ people
Staff
Sickness absence, accidents and the traffic risk.
Continued pay for 104 weeks
Group personal accident
WEGAS for traffic risks
What is covered
Situation
AVB
BAV
Cyber
Injury to a visitor or customer
Yes
No
No
Damage to a client's property
Sometimes
No
No
Financial loss caused by an advisory or calculation error
No
Yes
No
Downtime after a ransomware attack
No
No
Yes
Data breach involving personal data
No
Sometimes
Yes
Damage to property in your care
No
No
No
This overview is general in nature and is not personal advice. What is actually covered, including exclusions, limits and the excess, is set out in the policy conditions and the insurance card (verzekeringskaart) of the insurer; you receive both before you take out cover. Taking out cover without advice? Then read what execution only means for you.
Where things go wrong in practice
Four points that make the difference between a policy that pays out and one that does not.
The area is a hard policy boundary
Your policy schedule names the area of navigation or flight. Outside that area there is no cover, not even for damage that has nothing to do with the location: an engine failure just over the boundary of the area is uninsured. Apply for a temporary extension before you depart, not afterwards. Also note restrictions on operating times, night navigation, ice and the periods in which the vessel should be laid up under the policy.
A different liability regime for each leg
Your carrier's liability is subject to limits that differ by mode of transport and that are usually tied to weight, not to the actual value of the cargo. A light, valuable consignment is therefore structurally underinsured with the carrier. The cargo interest covers that with its own goods in transit insurance; that is entirely separate from your liability policy and does not cover your defence.
On board you are the only employer around
The duty of care of Article 7:658 of the Dutch Civil Code and the additional standard of Article 7:611 of the Dutch Civil Code also apply on the water and in the air, but help is not there within ten minutes. Slipping on a wet deck, injury while handling mooring lines, securing cargo in a seaway, boarding by pilot ladder: those are the notifications that keep coming back. Repatriation and medical evacuation are separate items.
What never falls under the cover
Excluded as standard are civil commotion, acts of war, hijacking and seizure by a government, and further corrosion, osmosis, wood rot, wear and any inherent defect of the vessel. If a valid certificate is missing, the vessel is not seaworthy or the master lacks the required qualification, the cover falls away. Wreck removal and raising a sunken vessel are only included if separately insured; deliberate acts remain excluded through Article 7:952 of the Dutch Civil Code.
What does your premium depend on?
Type and year of build of the object — An inland vessel, a tug or workboat and an aircraft are each assessed differently.
Sailing or flying area — Coastal trade, inland waters, unrestricted navigation or European airspace: the area determines the premium and acceptance.
Class, certification and survey regime — Valid certificates and a current survey schedule are often a condition of acceptance, not a recommendation.
Nature of the cargo or the operation — Passengers, bulk, dangerous goods or lifting and salvage work lead to different limits.
Crew composition and operating time — The number of crew, the operating regime and the master's qualifications all count in the employer cover.
Berth, storage and claims history — Winter storage, a hangar, security of the berth and earlier notifications determine the excess.
Insurers weigh these details differently. That is why comparing pays off.
How we arrange it
You request a quoteWe take stock of your activities, turnover and wishes.
We compareseveral insurers, on premium as well as conditions.
You receive a proposalWith an explanation of the differences and the exclusions.
We arrange the switchIncluding cancellation, so there is no gap in cover.
Customers rate our service on four aspects: personal service, service delivery, availability and the outcome. The reviews are collected and published by NH1816 and come from customers who have actually taken out a policy with Finass Advies B.V. or reported a claim.
No. The insurance obligation in Article 2 of the Dutch Motor Insurance Liability Act (WAM) covers motor vehicles in road traffic; a vessel does not fall under it. For aircraft there are European requirements for minimum liability cover. In practice, for vessels the obligation comes from your contracts: port authorities, charterers, lessors and financiers require a policy and often want to be named as interested party.
Is the cargo included on the hull policy?
No. The hull cover covers the vessel or aircraft itself. There are two separate policies for the cargo: the cargo interest's goods in transit insurance, which covers the goods themselves, and your carrier's liability insurance, which only covers your liability under the law as a carrier within the limits of the applicable regime.
What happens if I go outside the agreed area?
There is then no cover for as long as you are there, whatever the cause of the loss. Insurers will usually extend the area temporarily if you apply beforehand and state the reason. Report a change in use mid-term as well: concealing it runs into your duty of disclosure and can cost you the payment on a later claim.
Are crew and those on board covered on the liability insurance?
Usually not without more. Many public and employers' liability policies exclude the marine and aviation risk, precisely because it belongs in a separate policy. Employers' liability for those on board, crew cover and personal accident cover are therefore arranged separately, together with arrangements on repatriation and medical costs outside the Netherlands.
Finass Verzekert is a trading name of Finass Advies B.V. We advise on and arrange non-life insurance on the basis of an objective analysis of several insurers, and receive commission for this from the insurer, which is included in the premium. You pay no separate advice fee. Before you take out cover, we establish your wishes and needs.
You will find our licence, KvK and Kifid details and our complaints procedure at the foot of every page.
