Why Business Owners Need an Inland Marine Policy

Texas’ farms, ranches, and small businesses mean big business for the state’s economy. In fact, small businesses with fewer than 100 employees generated more than $13 billion in revenue for Texas in 2012, according to a 2016 report from the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Institute for Economic Development. Texas also has more farms and ranches than any other state, with 248,416 spread across 127 million acres, according to the Texas Department of Agriculture.

With so much on the line, it’s important for Texas business owners, farmers, and ranchers to protect their investments — and their livelihoods. This is even more evident after a particularly challenging year for small businesses owners and ranchers alike. Commercial inland marine insurance policies help cast a wide net of coverage, often reaching past the basics of essential small business insurance coverage.

While inland marine policies can help individuals insure personal items, they can also help business owners, farmers, and ranchers protect everything from farm equipment to computers.

What Does a Commercial Inland Marine Policy Cover?

Inland marine policies offer broad coverage with a myriad of subsets, meaning there’s most likely coverage for your business needs, no matter how specialized your industry may be.

Marci Pennington-Hernandez, a Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Agent in Uvalde, says inland marine coverage is a common addition to existing policies and covers anything that can be physically removed from the property.

“For example, you can’t pick up a barn and drive it away,” she explains. “But the contents inside the barn can go under this kind of policy.”

An inland marine policy can cover items that small business owners, farmers, and ranchers use on a daily basis. Here are a few items it covers:

• Irrigation equipment
• Hay balers
• Cotton pickers
• Combines
• Trailers
• Computers
• Mobile tools (i.e., machinery at job sites)
• Building materials and construction equipment

An inland marine policy also helps protect covered items from certain perils such as theft, fire, and vandalism, Hernandez says. For example, it could cover a farmer’s trailer that’s used to haul hay or livestock if it’s stolen. (If the trailer was damaged in an accident with another vehicle while it’s being pulled, auto insurance would kick in.)

Why Inland Marine Is Good for Business

The coverage possibilities are broad with a commercial inland marine policy. It also allows you expand coverage on certain items, when policy limitations can sometimes impede business insurance coverage, Hernandez says. “It closes the gap,” Hernandez says. “It’s reassurance — no matter what happens.”

Protect your place in Texas’ thriving economy with a commercial inland marine policy. If you’re interested in an inland marine policy but aren’t sure what should — or could — be covered, your Texas Farm Bureau Insurance Agent can help. Get the coverage you and your business need to succeed.

A Need for Well-Rounded Coverage

Adding a commercial inland marine policer to your business’ insurance arsenal can be a prime time to examine any coverage gaps you might have. Farmers and ranchers might want to consider Texas Farm Bureau Insurance’s unique AgAdvantage policy, which offers combined coverage and employer’s liability for farmhands.

And don’t forget about barns, silos, and other outbuildings. Here’s how to keep them covered.

Coverage and discounts are subject to policy terms and qualifications and may vary by situation.