Hair cargo is light, high-value and moisture-sensitive — an unattractive combination for insurers and an expensive one for a buyer who assumes the supplier's insurance covers their goods. It usually does not.
1. Risk Transfer Follows the Incoterm, Not the Invoice
Under FOB, risk passes when the cargo is loaded on board; the buyer's cover must therefore start at origin loading, not at destination arrival. Under CIF the seller arranges minimum cover for the buyer's benefit, but minimum cover is narrower than buyers expect. Under DDP the seller carries risk to the named destination, which makes the seller's policy the relevant one.
The practical rule: whoever holds risk at a given point must be insured at that point. Overlapping cover for a few days is cheaper than a gap of one hour.
2. What "All Risks" Still Excludes
All-risks cover is not all-perils. Inherent vice — the tendency of the goods themselves to deteriorate — is generally excluded, and moisture damage from condensation inside a sealed container sits uncomfortably close to that exclusion.
For hair, the defence is packaging evidence: desiccant quantity, barrier bag specification, and container stuffing photographs. If the cargo was packed to resist condensation and still failed, the claim is a cargo claim. If it was shipped in bare cartons, it is likely to be treated as inherent vice.
3. Declared Value and the Undervaluation Trap
Premiums are calculated on declared value. Declaring the FOB value instead of the full landed replacement value leaves the difference uninsured, and average clauses can reduce every claim proportionally. Declare the number you would need to rebuild the inventory, not the number on the commercial invoice.
4. The Evidence Pack That Decides a Claim
Surveyors work from documents. Keep: the bill of lading, the packing list with carton dimensions and weights, the stuffing photographs, the clean on-board receipt, the delivery receipt with any notation of damage, and photographs taken before the carton was opened.
A signed clean delivery receipt is the single most damaging document in a cargo claim, because it records that the goods were received in apparent good order. Note exceptions at the moment of receipt, not the following week.
5. Practical Structure for Repeat Importers
An open cover that declares each shipment is usually more efficient than a policy per container, and it forces a monthly declaration that keeps the sum insured honest. For air express, check whether the carrier's default liability limit — typically calculated per kilogram — is anywhere near the value of a hair carton. It usually is not.
