Who's Liable When a Courier Loses a €200K Shipment? — Insurance and the OBC Grey Zone

The on-board courier industry moves cargo worth billions of euros every year. Pharmaceutical samples, aerospace components, semiconductor prototypes, legal documents, luxury goods — much of it irreplaceable, time-critical, and extremely valuable. And almost all of it travels as the courier's personal luggage, subject to airline baggage liability limits that were designed for lost suitcases, not lost turbine blades.

This is the OBC insurance grey zone. It's a patchwork of airline liability caps, courier personal insurance, agency umbrella policies, and shipper marine cargo cover — none of which were designed for the specific risk profile of hand-carried high-value goods. When everything goes well, nobody thinks about it. When something goes wrong, everyone discovers they assumed someone else was carrying the liability.

The Montreal Convention problem

International air travel is governed by the Montreal Convention of 1999, which caps airline liability for checked baggage at approximately 1,288 Special Drawing Rights (roughly €1,300) per passenger. For hand luggage — which is what most OBC shipments technically are — the airline's liability is even more ambiguous, often requiring the passenger to prove the airline was negligent.

This means that a courier carrying a €200,000 pharmaceutical sample as cabin baggage has, at best, €1,300 of airline-backed protection. The remaining €198,700 of risk sits somewhere in the gap between the courier's personal insurance, the agency's liability policy, and the shipper's cargo cover.

Who actually carries the risk?

The courier — Independent couriers may carry personal liability insurance, but policies vary wildly. Some courier-specific policies cover up to €50,000–€100,000 per shipment. Many couriers, particularly newer independents, carry no specific goods-in-transit cover at all. Their personal travel insurance almost certainly excludes commercial cargo.

The agency — Established OBC agencies typically carry blanket goods-in-transit insurance, often with per-shipment limits of €250,000–€500,000. This is the layer that most shippers assume exists. But the terms matter: does the policy cover theft? Damage from handling? Customs seizure? Spoilage of temperature-sensitive cargo? The answers differ by policy and by insurer.

The shipper — Many shippers have marine cargo insurance that theoretically covers goods in transit regardless of the mode of transport. But OBC is a grey area. The goods are not on a bill of lading. They're not in a cargo hold. They're in someone's hand luggage. Insurers who haven't specifically endorsed OBC coverage may dispute a claim on these grounds.

What good looks like

The well-run OBC transaction has clear liability at every stage. The shipper's marine cargo policy explicitly covers hand-carried goods. The courier or agency carries goods-in-transit insurance with a per-shipment limit that exceeds the cargo value. The handover documentation specifies the declared value, the insurance coverage in force, and the chain of custody from collection to delivery.

The poorly-run transaction — which is far more common — involves a phone call, a verbal confirmation of "yeah we're covered", and a courier who is carrying cargo worth more than their flat is worth, protected by an insurance policy that they haven't read and that their agency hasn't updated since 2019.

As the OBC market matures and moves toward platform-based transactions, insurance verification needs to become part of the standard workflow — not an afterthought discovered during a claims process. Shippers should be able to see a courier's insurance status before accepting a bid. Couriers should be able to purchase per-shipment cover at the point of bid acceptance. And the platform should hold proof of cover for both parties, accessible if a claim arises.

The OBC industry's insurance problem isn't unsolvable. It's just unaddressed. And it will remain unaddressed until the cost of a single bad claim forces the conversation that should have happened years ago.