Delay exclusion (cargo insurance)
The cargo policy exclusion that rules out losses caused by delay, even when the delay results from an insured peril, leaving market loss and deterioration from waiting with the cargo owner.
All three versions of the Institute Cargo Clauses exclude loss, damage or expense caused by delay, even if the delay itself is caused by an insured peril, with the sole exception of general average and salvage charges. The cargo policy covers the physical integrity of the goods, not their commercial value on a given date: a seasonal product that arrives after the season, a part that arrives after a production line has stopped, or foodstuffs that deteriorate while waiting give no right to compensation. This principle makes market loss a risk that trade must handle otherwise, through contract terms, safety stocks or specific delay covers sold separately, which are rare and expensive. Major logistics disruptions periodically remind shippers who thought they were covered of this limit.
When the Ever Given blocked the Suez Canal from March 23 to 29, 2021, more than 400 ships waited to pass; shippers whose goods arrived late or spoiled were met with the delay exclusion, absent separate physical damage.
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