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Posted by Admin on July, 04, 2026
What This SRCC Guide Covers
This is the most detailed, most practical guide to SRCC (Strikes, Riots and Civil Commotion) cover in marine cargo insurance written specifically for Indian exporters, CHAs, and freight forwarders. Real examples, real ports, real consequences — and exactly what to do.
What Is SRCC in Marine Cargo Insurance?
SRCC stands for Strikes, Riots and Civil Commotion. In marine cargo insurance, SRCC is an add-on extension — a specific additional endorsement that must be separately purchased and attached to your base marine cargo policy. It covers physical loss or damage to cargo caused by the violent or disruptive actions of human groups engaged in industrial action, civil disturbance, or political unrest.
Without SRCC, every ICC clause — including the broadest ICC (A) All Risk — is completely silent when cargo is damaged, destroyed, or stolen by workers on strike, rioters, protesters, or persons engaged in civil commotion. The loss is real. The damage is documented. But the claim is zero — because the peril is excluded.
The Three Components of SRCC — Defined
S — Strikes
Action by workers who have stopped working in protest of employment conditions, wages, or labour disputes — including dock workers, port stevedores, customs officers, transport workers, and warehouse staff. Physical damage to cargo caused by striking workers — deliberate damage, rough handling in anger, or theft during disruption — is covered under SRCC.
R — Riots
Violent disorder by a group of people — typically defined in common law as 12 or more persons using or threatening violence for a common purpose. Port riots, warehouse riots, and civil disturbances that result in physical damage to cargo in transit, in storage, or at port facilities are covered events under the SRCC extension.
CC — Civil Commotion
Disturbance by a larger body of persons than a riot — a state of civil agitation or mass civil disorder that, while falling short of war or insurrection, disrupts the normal functioning of commerce, ports, and transit. Political protests that turn violent, mass civil unrest, and public disorder events that cause cargo damage are covered under Civil Commotion.
Where SRCC Is Excluded — The Exact ICC Clause Language
Understanding where SRCC is excluded in the ICC clauses helps every Indian exporter understand exactly why the add-on is necessary and what gap it fills.
"In no case shall this insurance cover loss damage or expense caused by war, civil war, revolution, rebellion, insurrection, or civil strife arising therefrom, or any hostile act by or against a belligerent power."
The War Exclusion removes the most severe political violence from ICC (A) cover. Note that civil strife and insurrection are included here — the boundary between civil strife (war exclusion) and civil commotion (SRCC) is a critical legal distinction that determines which add-on applies.
"In no case shall this insurance cover loss damage or expense caused by strikers, locked out workmen, or persons taking part in labour disturbances, riots or civil commotions, or by any terrorist or any person acting from a political motive."
This is the precise exclusion that SRCC cover reverses. The Strikes Exclusion Clause (Clause 7) removes strikers, locked-out workers, labour disturbances, riots, civil commotions, and terrorism from ICC (A) cover entirely. The SRCC extension is specifically designed to re-admit these excluded perils into the policy for the duration of the transit.
The SRCC Extension — What It Reinstates
The Institute Strikes Clauses (Cargo) — the standard SRCC extension — specifically covers "loss damage or expense caused by strikers, locked out workmen or persons taking part in labour disturbances, riots or civil commotions." It also covers "any terrorist or any person acting from a political motive" — reinstating the terrorism cover removed by Clause 7 of ICC (A). The extension does NOT cover delay, loss of market, or consequential losses from any of these events.
⚠️ The ICC (A) All Risk Misconception: ICC (A) All Risk does not mean all causes. Clause 7 specifically and completely removes strikes, riots, civil commotion, and terrorism from even the broadest marine cargo cover available. "All Risk" only covers risks not specifically excluded. SRCC must be separately purchased — it cannot be inferred or assumed from any ICC clause wording, regardless of how broad the clause appears.
What the SRCC Extension Covers — Detailed Breakdown
The SRCC extension reinstates coverage for a specific and important category of human-caused perils that ICC clauses exclude. Here is a precise breakdown of what is covered:
✅ SRCC Does Cover — Physical Damage From:
- Strikers deliberately damaging cargo — workers on strike who vandalise, damage, or destroy cargo in their custody or at their workplace
- Theft by strikers — cargo stolen during industrial action by workers who would ordinarily handle or guard it
- Rough handling by replacement (scab) labour — cargo damaged by inexperienced replacement workers handling cargo during a strike action
- Fire or explosion caused by rioters — warehouse or port facility fire started by rioters that damages or destroys cargo
- Looting during civil commotion — cargo looted from warehouses, containers, or port facilities during civil disorder
- Cargo damaged during violent protest — physical damage to cargo during political protests or civil disturbances at or near port facilities
- Damage from acts of terrorism (non-war) — physical damage caused by terrorists acting from a political motive without state sponsorship
- Customs officer strike damage — cargo damaged due to improper handling at customs by striking officers or during customs officer walkouts
- Damage during locked-out worker actions — damage caused by workers locked out of their workplace who take action against the employer's property including cargo in their facility
❌ SRCC Does NOT Cover — Even with the Extension:
- Delay caused by strikes — no matter how long cargo sits at a strike-bound port, no delay cost is covered under SRCC
- Loss of market — if perishable cargo deteriorates while waiting at a port closed by strike action, the deterioration is delay-caused and not covered
- Additional freight charges from re-routing around strike-affected ports
- Demurrage and port detention costs arising from industrial action
- War and civil war — political violence that reaches the level of war is excluded from SRCC and requires a separate War Risk extension
- State-sponsored terrorism — acts of terrorism carried out by or on behalf of a government or military force are War Risk, not SRCC
- Insurrection and rebellion — organised armed resistance to government authority at the level of civil war is War Risk
- Nuclear, biological, chemical, radiological terrorism — separately excluded even from SRCC wordings
- Inherent vice — cargo deteriorating due to its own nature during a delay caused by a strike is still inherent vice, not SRCC
🎯 The Key Principle: SRCC covers physical damage to the cargo itself, caused directly by the act of striking workers, rioters, or civil disorder. It does not cover the consequences of the disruption — the delay, the re-routing cost, the market loss, or the financial cost of port closure. This is one of the most important limitations that Cargo Cover explains to every exporter at policy inception, so there are no settlement surprises when an SRCC event occurs.
SRCC vs War Risk — Understanding the Boundary Every Exporter Must Know
SRCC and War Risk are the two separate political violence add-ons available in marine cargo insurance. They are frequently confused — and the confusion is expensive when a claim occurs. Here is the precise distinction:
| Event Type | SRCC | War Risk | Neither (Both Excluded) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dock workers' strike — cargo deliberately damaged | ✔ SRCC | — | — |
| Port riot — warehouse looted and cargo stolen | ✔ SRCC | — | — |
| Political protest — cargo in truck damaged by protesters | ✔ SRCC | — | — |
| Terrorist bombing of port facility (non-state actor) | ✔ SRCC | — | — |
| Houthi missile strike on vessel in Red Sea | — | ✔ War Risk | — |
| Naval mine — Persian Gulf transit | — | ✔ War Risk | — |
| Government-ordered confiscation of cargo | — | ✔ War Risk (Restraint of Princes) | — |
| State military airstrike on port facility | — | ✔ War Risk | — |
| Armed insurgency / civil war — cargo in the conflict zone | — | ✔ War Risk (if extension purchased) | — |
| Customs officer strike — cargo delayed for 3 weeks | — | — | ❌ Neither — delay excluded |
| NBCR (nuclear/bio/chem/rad) terrorism | — | — | ❌ Excluded from both |
| Cargo deteriorates while waiting at strike-closed port | — | — | ❌ Inherent vice / delay excluded |
The Gradient of Political Violence — From SRCC to War Risk
Political violence exists on a spectrum — from labour disputes at the benign end, through civil commotion, insurrection, and ultimately to war at the extreme end. Marine insurance addresses this spectrum with two separate add-ons:
- SRCC covers the lower-to-middle of the spectrum: strikes, riots, civil commotions, non-state terrorism
- War Risk covers the upper end: hostilities between states, civil war, insurrection, state-sponsored terrorism, and naval/air military action
- The boundary zone is genuinely grey: a riot that escalates into insurrection; civil commotion that becomes civil war. When events in the grey zone cause losses, both the SRCC and War Risk insurers may dispute which add-on applies — making it important to have both in place for truly volatile regions
🎯 Cargo Cover's Dual Add-On Advisory: For shipments to or through genuinely volatile regions — Sub-Saharan Africa, parts of the Middle East, South America with political instability, South and Southeast Asia — Cargo Cover advises both SRCC and War Risk add-ons. The combined premium is modest. The combined coverage eliminates the grey-zone dispute risk entirely. We structure the correct combination based on your specific routing and destination country risk profile.
Does SRCC Cover Terrorism in Marine Insurance India?
Terrorism cover within marine insurance is one of the most frequently misunderstood topics among Indian exporters. The answer requires careful nuance — because terrorism can be covered under SRCC, under War Risk, or under neither, depending on the nature of the act.
SRCC in Action — Real INR Claim Scenarios for Indian Exporters
Tirupur Garment Exporter — Cargo Damaged in Felixstowe Dock Strike, UK: ₹14.2 Lakhs
The Shipment: A Tirupur knitwear manufacturer ships 500 cartons of winter knitwear to a UK retailer via Tuticorin Port to Felixstowe. A Unite the Union dock workers' strike at Felixstowe begins the day the vessel docks. Replacement workers handle the discharge. Several pallets of knitwear are roughly handled and dropped — 120 cartons suffer impact damage. A further 30 cartons are found with torn outer packaging and partially missing contents — classic pilferage during the disruption.
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