Insurance coverage for shipments in transitGD EXPRESS Carrier Bhd (GDEX) has tied up with AXA Affin Assurance Bhd to provide insurance coverage for shipment of goods during transit in Malaysia.
The all-risk liability scheme, the first of its kind introduced by a domestic express courier, will insure the real value of goods lost in transit up to RM25,000 per consignment note.
Previously, if an express delivery company loses its customers’ shipment in transit, the customer will only be compensated a maximum of RM200 as a goodwill gesture regardless whether the shipment has a value of RM50 or RM50,000.
The scheme is considered timely as most international shipments are insured while a lot of local shipments within Malaysia are not.
With the Enhanced Liability Coverage (ELC) scheme, GDEX customers do not need to arrange for a separate insurance coverage from a third-party insurer but instead it is provided by GDEX itself under its umbrella of services.
The ELC scheme provides customers with the combined features of Goods In-Transit Insurance and Marine Cargo Insurance.
“Apart from convenience and time savings the scheme will be slightly cheaper as customers need only make a minimal premium,” said GDEX chief executive officer and executive deputy chairman Teong Teck Lean.
Under the ELC scheme, users can either maintain its existing coverage premiums or pay between 0.3 per cent and 3 per cent for higher liability coverage fee on goods that are of high value.
Since its soft launch this year GDEX has received a consignment coverage worth more than RM500 million from nine of its over 20,000 customers under the scheme.
Meanwhile, AXA Affin Assurance president and chief executive officer Giles Ward said the Malaysian insurance industry paid out over RM120 million in marine cargo claims in 2004.
“Not all cargo going in and out of Malaysia is insured in Malaysia itself. So the losses paid by the worldwide insurance industry in relation to Malaysian trade are probably significantly larger,” Ward told Business Times via e-mail.
He said uninsured losses can be substantially higher if one were to estimate the economic loss to Malaysian business as a whole.
“It is this area where the scheme launched today in partnership with GDEX will most help Malaysian businesses protect themselves,” he said.
Ward said that marine cargo insurance accounts for 10-15 per cent, or RM23 million, of the company’s total premiums.
AXA Affin is a member of the AXA Group which is one of the largest insurers in the world.
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