What insurance does RoRo cargo need: vehicles, machinery and rolling cargo?

What RoRo cargo actually is

RoRo stands for roll-on/roll-off: the cargo is driven onto the vessel on its own wheels or on a rolling platform, instead of being lifted aboard inside a container. This category includes:

• Trucks, tractor units and trailers.
• Buses and minibuses.
• Construction, agricultural and mining machinery —excavators, loaders, harvesters, cranes.
• Cars and light commercial vehicles.
• Oversized project pieces mounted on rolling platforms.

The difference from a containerized shipment isn't a technical footnote: it changes where the damage happens. A container shields the goods from weather, abrasion and handling. A RoRo unit travels without that layer. And every time someone drives it —at the origin terminal, up the ramp, across the deck, during lashing, and again at destination— a new damage opportunity appears.

What well-structured RoRo cover includes

Under all-risks conditions, RoRo cargo cover responds for physical loss and damage throughout the insured transit, warehouse to warehouse, on any route worldwide, including loading and unloading operations —which in RoRo is precisely where the losses concentrate. A well-structured program also covers:

• Theft, burglary and hijacking of the vehicle or unit, on the inland leg and at the terminal.
• Malicious damage caused by third parties.
• Accident to the conveyance, collision, rollover, dropping during lifting or maneuvering.
• Major voyage events: stranding, sinking, fire, general average.
• Removal expenses when a damaged unit has to be removed or destroyed.
• Forwarding costs if the voyage is interrupted or terminated short of destination.
• War, strikes and civil commotion risks, added according to the route.

Proteus Cargo cover operates warehouse to warehouse and with no deductibles on marine cargo. The exact conditions for each shipment —legs, routes, type of unit— are confirmed when the certificate is issued.

What it normally does not cover (worth explaining to the client upfront)

This is the conversation that prevents 80% of later arguments. With exposed cargo there are three exclusions that show up almost every time, and an intermediary should be able to explain them:

• Wear and tear and previous use. A used unit can be insured on all-risks conditions, but damage a surveyor attributes to previous use or normal wear and tear falls outside the cover. This is not refurbishment insurance.
• "Simple" scratching, denting, twisting, bending, rust and discoloration. Meaning: when they are not the consequence of an insured event. A surface scratch that appeared during the voyage isn't indemnified on its own; the same damage caused by a collision on deck is.
• Electrical, electronic and mechanical breakdown. Excluded unless it results directly from a covered event. An engine that won't start at destination isn't a cargo claim; an engine damaged by flooding aboard the vessel is.

The vessel matters too: in RoRo the insurer assesses the ship —classification, certification and age— before accepting the shipment. That's not a formality; it's part of underwriting.

What decides the claim: pre-shipment documentation

With containerized cargo, the intact seal is the evidence. In RoRo there is no seal. The evidence is the documented condition of the unit at every change of custody. Five things worth having every time:

• Pre-shipment condition report with dated photographs, covering all four sides, the roof, the interior and the odometer or hour meter.
• Unique identification: chassis or VIN number, machinery serial number, license plate.
• Declared value supported by commercial invoice or valuation.
• Record of lashing and stowage of the unit on board.
• Exceptions noted on the terminal receipt and the transport document when damage is already visible. Damage that isn't noted at handover is damage nobody can place in time afterwards.

Practical rule: photograph at every transfer of responsibility —plant departure, origin terminal entry, destination terminal exit, final delivery. It's four minutes per unit, and it's the difference between a claim that pays quickly and one that's argued for months.

Why a freight forwarder should sell this cover rather than avoid it

RoRo cargo tends to carry high unit values and visible handling losses. For a freight forwarder or customs broker, that cuts both ways: it's the shipment where the client is most grateful to be covered, and also the one that damages the relationship fastest when it arrives damaged and uninsured.

Offering the cover within your own service solves both at once. With the Proteus Cargo partner program you need no capital, no insurance infrastructure and no technical expertise: you rely on a policy that is already underwritten and active, backed by world-class insurers and reinsurers, with policies placed in the markets of London, Germany and France. We bring the product, the technology and the claims handling; you bring your book and your client relationships. We insure more than 12,000 shipments a year and have commercial presence in Chile, Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Paraguay and Ecuador.

In short

RoRo cargo needs all-risks warehouse-to-warehouse cover written as exposed cargo, with a pre-shipment condition report that establishes the starting point. What's covered is physical loss and damage in transit, including handling, theft and major voyage events; what isn't covered is prior wear, isolated cosmetic damage and mechanical breakdown that doesn't stem from an insured event. And what usually decides the outcome of a claim is the photograph someone took —or didn't take— before the unit was driven aboard.

Do you move vehicles, buses or machinery and want to offer this cover to your clients? Book a 30-minute meeting, no commitment: book here.