A soft inland marine insurance market is creating opportunities for insureds to secure higher limits and broader coverage, but rising equipment values are also increasing the complexity of claims. Growing carrier capacity has put downward pressure on pricing, while data center construction, tariffs and equipment shortages are changing the size and nature of first-party exposures.

Data center projects are a key source of aggregation risk. Contractors may temporarily store millions of dollars of machinery and components before installation, creating significant exposures under warehouse legal liability, property-of-others and related inland marine coverage. Temporary storage values can reach $30 million to $50 million, according to Jason Baynard, senior vice president at Amwins Program Underwriters.

For adjusters, those concentrations make accurate valuation and location information increasingly important. A large policy limit does not by itself establish how much property was at a location when a loss occurred or how the insured calculated its values. Claims may require closer examination of equipment inventories, contracts, storage arrangements and the movement of property among warehouses and job sites.

Tariffs and supply constraints create another valuation issue. Baynard cited an insured that purchased an $8 million crane and paid another $1.4 million in tariffs to import it. After a covered loss, replacing specialized equipment may therefore cost substantially more than its original purchase price or scheduled value.

Availability can be just as important as price. Heavy equipment may have long replacement timelines, particularly when comparable machinery must be imported or is already in high demand. Adjusters evaluating replacement costs may need to account for sourcing, tariffs, transportation and current market conditions rather than relying solely on historical purchase figures.

Longer replacement periods are also increasing interest in loss-of-use coverage. Some inland marine policies provide monthly payments, subject to aggregate limits, when covered equipment cannot operate following a loss. These claims can require forensic accounting to establish lost income and an analysis of whether the insured could reasonably mitigate the loss by moving comparable equipment from elsewhere in its fleet.

For claims teams, the trend puts greater emphasis on specialized equipment knowledge and careful policy review. Adjusters handling high-value inland marine losses may increasingly encounter equipment worth millions of dollars, large temporary concentrations of property and business-income consequences that continue long after the physical damage occurs. Understanding the insured’s contracts, valuation methodology, replacement options and mitigation capabilities can be critical to determining the scope and value of the claim.