You’ve worked hard to get your business to where it is today. You’ve labored countless nights and weekends learning the ins and outs of your industry as well as your customers’ industries. Eventually, you may reach a point where your sales slow or plateau. What is the next frontier for your company?
Often the next frontier is to explore potential opportunities outside of the US borders. As of today, the US Census Bureau estimates that the US accounts for approximately 4% of the earth’s population (322MM / 7,278MM). Why limit your business to only domestic customers?
Many businesses choose to remain domestic due to the uncertainty of international trade:
- What happens after my product leaves the warehouse?
- What trade barriers may effect my transactions?
- Can I offer credit terms to my international customers and, if so, what do I do if they don’t pay?
- How do I ensure that I am not taking excessive financial risk by engaging in this expansion?
While no one can guarantee these transactions will be shipped, delivered, and completed to your satisfaction, you can reduce the financial exposure that you take on. Importers and Exporters have a unique set of risks that affect their business and, as a result, there are a number of insurance products developed for your needs. Specifically, Ocean Cargo Insurance, Trade Credit Insurance, and Foreign Liability have been designed to help you build your business with increased certainty.
Ocean Cargo
Ocean Cargo Insurance covers goods in the ordinary course of transit, anywhere in the world, from warehouse to warehouse. The policy is written to indemnify the exporter or importer in the event of loss or damage to the goods due to a covered peril. Coverage can be provided for products in any number of industries including consumer goods, chemicals, food products, machinery, metals, pharmaceuticals, and other perishables.
Trade Credit
Trade Credit Insurance provides sellers with protection for unpaid credit balances from sales made to your customers. This policy is not only applicable to international transactions but domestic as well. Insuring receivables can also lend to better borrowing terms from lenders. It is easy to worry about customer insolvency or delayed payments when engaging in everyday business transactions, this product has been developed to minimize the risk to your company.
Foreign Liability
Foreign Liability Insurance is similar to domestic liability coverage, however, it applies to foreign occurrences and includes protection for U.S. occurrences when a suit is brought outside of the U.S. For example, manufacturers and distributors that sell products outside of the U.S. may be sued in foreign jurisdictions. A U.S. based policy typically only covers lawsuits that are filed in the U.S., Canada, or U.S. territories.
We understand that no insurance product is going to completely eliminate the risk your organization takes when engaging in trade, however, we can do our best to reduce the impact an adverse event will have.
Biscayne Risk & Insurance Group is here to help you navigate your way through the complex insurance solutions applicable to international trade. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions that you have.
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Matthew Pitnick
mjp@biscaynerisk.com
561.571.1001