CIFFA Forwarder Magazine

30 THE FORWARDER | WINTER 2025 and short. What would the goals be of people in the organization to respond to incidents-have some sort of rough document or plan-this is NOT an IT risk,” he said. Insurance tools such as traditional errors and omissions coverage can be helpful to mitigate against this, said Manish Bissa, Senior Vice President – National Transportation & Logistics Leader, Marsh. Cyberinsurance also provides you with the infrastructure you need to respond to a cyber incident, Sharma said. It takes care of business interruption expenses, and covers your loss as a result of the downtime experienced. It also goes one step further to cover contingent-i.e. your loss as a result of an issue with a business partner. How can you be better prepared in your business to mitigate risks? Have standard operating procedures, double checks that warehouse systems, communications systems, and vetting systems are working, said Sapronetti. “Staff should be very familiar with following procedures. If there is a claim the insurance provider will come in and say, did you follow your claim? If you’re acting as a principal issuing house bill of lading, make sure you have cargo liability insurance, contingent auto (very prevalent in the U.S.), and contingent cargo insurance. Work with your transportation attorneys when they are doing those contracts,” she said. In their closing remarks, panelists noted that we have to continue to stay diligent. “Change is the only constant. If you’re not changing, if you’re not addressing it internally, that’s when you are taking on a risk to your firm. If your customer is coming to you as an intermediary and asking you to take on more risk than they have, you can move it away from your liability-even when taking on the risk,” said Bissa. Protect your liability insurance. Give the customer the option| to say, I don’t need this coverage. Exercise good “contract discipline”. But keep in mind, said Sivière, that between 60-80% of cargo travelling around the world is either not insured or is under- insured-an issue waiting to happen.