As a broker or 3PL, you know that losing loads to theft, pilferage, accidents, or extreme weather is an unfortunate part of the business. Additionally, as a small or medium-sized broker, you often find traditional cargo insurance prohibitively expensive and lacking in the coverage necessary for specific shipments. Trucker Tools has partnered with Loadsure to provide businesses like yours with per load cargo insurance in 40 seconds or less. Now, you can add coverage to individual loads directly in the Trucker Tools platform.
Trucker Tools’ VP of Strategic Partnerships and Alliances Matt Silver recently interviewed Johnny McCord, Loadsure’s Founder and CEO, to learn more about cargo claim trends and what makes Loadsure different from traditional insurance. In the webinar, “Broker Benefits of the Loadsure and Trucker Tools Partnership,” Silver and McCord discussed why you might need cargo insurance now more than ever and how Loadsure can help brokers like you reduce financial losses.
Extreme Weather, Pilferage and Fictitious Pickups Increased in 2020
“All of these weather events that are occurring, especially in the United States, are becoming more and more severe and more frequent, so there’s certainly been an increase in claims activity due to these severe weather events,” said McCord. “COVID has had a massive effect on the supply chain. There have been big shortages of certain products and there has been a significant increase in cargo thieves targeting these commodities, household goods and even household appliances. Last year, we saw a massive increase in pilferage. Approximately 20 percent of cargo thefts last year were pilferage.”
“All of these weather events that are occurring, especially in the United States, are becoming more and more severe and more frequent, so there’s certainly been an increase in claims activity due to these severe weather events,” said McCord. “COVID has had a massive effect on the supply chain. There have been big shortages of certain products and there has been a significant increase in cargo thieves targeting these commodities, household goods and even household appliances. Last year, we saw a massive increase in pilferage. Approximately 20 percent of cargo thefts last year were pilferage.”
Another major trend that McCord mentioned was an increase in fictitious pickups, a situation in which someone pretends to be a customer or carrier at a pickup point in order to steal a shipment. According to McCord, fictitious pickups have increased by 163 percent, which highlights how sophisticated organized crime groups are becoming.
Loadsure Per Load Cargo Insurance vs. Traditional Cargo Insurance
“Traditional insurance is sold on an annualized basis and you don’t have the ability to purchase insurance at a transactional level that is cost effective,” said McCord. “What Loadsure brings to the market is the way to purchase insurance as you need it, not if you need it. We provide insurance within the digital platforms such as Trucker Tools’, giving brokers the ability to purchase insurance while they are transacting their freight business. Another differentiator is that we provide automated underwriting at that granular level that ultimately means we can provide near instant quotes.”
“Traditional insurance is sold on an annualized basis and you don’t have the ability to purchase insurance at a transactional level that is cost effective,” said McCord. “What Loadsure brings to the market is the way to purchase insurance as you need it, not if you need it. We provide insurance within the digital platforms such as Trucker Tools’, giving brokers the ability to purchase insurance while they are transacting their freight business. Another differentiator is that we provide automated underwriting at that granular level that ultimately means we can provide near instant quotes.”
With traditional cargo insurance, you have to call your cargo insurance broker and wait 24 hours or more to get a quote on a load. In the meantime, the load and/or capacity may no longer be available. Loadsure is built into your daily workflow and automates the process for getting quotes and finalizing load-by-load cargo insurance. The integration partnership between Trucker Tools and Loadsure allows you to view Loadsure’s cargo rates on individual loads and secure per load cargo insurance from within the Trucker Tools platform with a few clicks. With traditional cargo insurance, you’re also forced to purchase annual coverage with large minimum premiums that will affect your cash flow, which is problematic, especially when your shipment levels are unpredictable.
Time Is Money: On-Demand Loadsure Cargo Insurance Keeps Pace with Logistics Industry
If we look at the rising cost of traditional cargo insurance, it’s becoming unsustainable for a lot of stakeholders,” McCord noted. “We’ve already mentioned that the large annual covers are expensive and very time consuming to access, but you know ultimately it can cut into the profitability of brokers and 3PLs because they may not be able to use capacity until insurance is in place. Brokers and 3PLs operate in this very time critical environment and so insurance needs to operate in that way, too. What we do is bring the availability of insurance at that load level so you don’t need to call your cargo insurance broker to add insurance. We’re providing the ability to buy additional insurance with a click of a button.”
McCord went on to say that certain commodities and shippers may have specific insurance requirements that you may not be able to meet or which may be very expensive with a blanket traditional cargo insurance. The ability to access insurance instantly and to be able to add per load insurance with Loadsure can help you avoid potentially losing these loads. Loadsure per load cargo insurance also can reduce risk for carriers and shippers, which helps you build better relationships with both.
Watch “Broker Benefits of the Loadsure and Trucker Tools Partnership” on demand. Schedule a free demo of Trucker Tools’ comprehensive digital platform for brokers and 3PLs.
