Staples & Associates
The name can be deceiving because inland marine insurance has nothing to do with a body of water. It covers items and equipment while they are in transit (by land) or being stored in a different location than your primary business location like a warehouse or storage facility. Inland Marine Insurance also covers specific materials that traditional business property insurance does not cover.
If you have a business in an industry that regularly transports property away from your primary location and/or stores it away, inland marine insurance may be necessary to provide you with the appropriate coverage for the protection of your raw materials.
You may already have commercial property coverage but this only covers buildings and business personal property, which is stored at your primary location. Let’s say you are a construction contractor who travels between job sites with equipment you need for specific jobs and the tools you use fall out of your vehicle and get damaged. Standard commercial property insurance may not provide coverage. That’s when you will need inland marine insurance to protect the items you are transporting.