The carrier has insurance: is your cargo protected for its full invoice value?

Identify who and what are insured first

Allianz Mercadorias pre-contractual notes dated November 2023 and available on its portal distinguish the policyholder's or insured's goods from third-party cargo entrusted to a carrier. For the latter, the product explanation links its response to liability attributable to the carrier or its employees. These documents summarise contractual examples; they do not replace the actual proposal.

Make your question specific: do you want to protect your interest in the goods or examine the liability of the business carrying them? An answer confined to the truck being insured is insufficient. Ask for the insured entity and the subject matter of the cover.

Sources: Allianz — Policyholder/insured-owned cargo, NIP 354, November 2023, p. 1; accessed 29 October 2026 ↗ · Allianz — Third-party cargo/carriers, NIP 355, November 2023, p. 1; accessed 29 October 2026 ↗

The domestic limit is not every invoice's value

For domestic road carriage within Decree-Law 239/2003, Article 20 sets a €10/kg gross-weight limit for missing cargo in loss or damage cases. Articles 6, 7, 18 and 21 require consideration of special declarations, exclusions and intentional conduct. Do not apply this domestic rule to an international journey.

Fictional exercise: for 20 kg of missing cargo, 20 × €10 is €200, even if the invoice states €8,000. This illustrates the criterion; it neither determines compensation nor removes the need to check the applicable rules and exceptions.

Sources: Diário da República — Consolidated Decree-Law 239/2003, Articles 6, 7, 18, 20 and 21; accessed 29 October 2026 ↗

Build a grid showing the answers still needed

As an editorial preparation method, create a row for each protection and four columns: insured person or business, protected interest, relevant event and limit. For the carrier's row, ask how liability is assessed. For cargo cover, ask about insured risks, deductibles, valuation and the accepted journey.

Mark unresolved points separately. Two completed rows do not justify adding the insured limits together or promising two payments for the same loss. The grid helps you formulate questions and keep the answer associated with the documents supplied.

Use a representative shipment for your comparison

Prepare an example of your operation recording the goods' nature, gross weight, value, origin and destination. Add the transport-contract reference and state who handles loading, unloading and any stops. For an initial conversation, prefer sample information without clients' names or commercial data.

Then ask where each answer appears in the proposal or certificate. A phrase such as goods in transit may not identify the document you are examining sufficiently. Keep the explanation and its document version, without automatically applying it to other shipments.

Prepare a quote for the risk you intend to transfer

In the RMACHADO request, choose Transportes and explain whether you want cover for your own goods or to clarify protection for a carrier's activity. A loss that has already happened should follow the existing contract's procedure; a new quote does not create retrospective cover.