Institute War and Strikes Clauses
The Institute War and Strikes Clauses exclude war, strikes, riots and similar political perils from standard cargo cover and make them available as a separately incepted extension with its own termination mechanisms.
- Clause type
- Exclusion
- Origin/Market
- London Market (LMA/NMA/Lloyd’s)
- Favours
- Insurer
- Negotiability
- Market standard
Standard wordings
- Institute War Clauses (Cargo) 2009
- Institute Strikes Clauses (Cargo) 2009
Purpose
War, civil war, riot and strikes risks are always excluded under the Institute Cargo Clauses, since they present a fundamentally different risk profile from ordinary transit perils. The Institute War Clauses and the closely related Institute Strikes Clauses provide this protection as a distinct, separately rated extension and define in detail the scope of political and labour-related perils that are added back in.
Effect and limits
As no dedicated marine cargo coverage currently exists in the register, cov-yachtversicherung is referenced here as the nearest available object, even though the clauses were originally developed for commercial sea transport. Both sets of clauses contain an automatic termination provision on the outbreak of war between certain major powers, as well as short cancellation periods, so that cover can lapse quickly as a geopolitical situation escalates; continued cover must then be separately renegotiated.
Negotiation and practice
Because the termination mechanisms in the War Clauses are typically shorter than those of the underlying cover, cargo insureds with supply chains passing through crisis regions should check early whether automatic termination is a risk and whether alternative cover routes, for example through political risk insurers, are available. For travel and terrorism risks outside the marine sector, the related clause-war-terrorism-travel provides comparable exclusion mechanisms.