Inland marine policy offered for lumber industry

Berkley Program Specialists, a unit of W.R. Berkley Corp., said Thursday that it had joined with managing general agent Specialty Program Solutions to create a new inland marine program aimed at helping protect mobile equipment and machinery used by logging, lumbering and construction companies in the Southeast.

Coverage for first party physical damage is extended to trade-specific items such as skidders, feller bunchers, log loaders, delimbers, chippers, backhoes, bulldozers and excavators, Naperville, Illinois-based Berkley Program Specialists said in a statement.

Eligible risks include chipping operations, land clearing operations, woodyards, sawmills, timber dealers, grading/excavation contractors, general contractors and developers, among others, according to the statement.

Up to $10 million in limits are available, a Berkley Program Specialists spokeswoman said in an email.
 
“With the focus and attention that Berkley Program Specialists offers to niches like this, we are confident we have the right provider to help build a market leading program in short order,” Jeff Vaughn, vice president of Alpharetta, Georgia-based Specialty Program Solutions, said in the statement.