Cargo insurance
Players: treat insurance as experimental. You can lose premium if a haul succeeds, and underwriters (LPs) can lose capital when claims pay. Rules and UX may change. Always read what your wallet is signing.
Cargo insurance is optional cover tied to a freight job. You pay a premium in SUI so that, if the haul fails under the policy rules, you can claim up to the insured cargo value from a shared pool. That pool is funded by liquidity providers (LPs) who deposit SUI hoping to earn premiums when jobs finish safely.
It is separate from freight escrow (payment for the haul) and from speculation (side bets on on-time vs late). Insurance is about cargo value risk, not courier pay.
Trust model: On-chain freight job state is the source of truth for delivery, overdue refunds, and undelivered claims. Destruction claims require a Pelusium oracle signature that matches your policy—not a raw in-game killmail screen by itself.
If the in-app banner says a freight path is paused, you can still read quotes and pool charts; buying or claiming may require waiting until signing is enabled again.
Two roles
| Role | What you do | How you make or lose money |
|---|---|---|
| Insured (usually shipper / cargo owner) | Buy a policy on a freight job; pay premium | Lose premium if the haul succeeds; claim cargo value if the policy pays out |
| LP / underwriter | Deposit SUI into the pool; later unbond to withdraw | Earn premiums when policies expire safely; lose when claims pay from the pool |
One job can have at most one active policy.
What a policy covers
| Claim path | Wins when (simplified) | Trust basis |
|---|---|---|
| Undelivered | Coverage window has ended and the job was not delivered (e.g. overdue / still in transit past end / cancelled per rules) | On-chain freight job state + time |
| Destruction | Oracle-signed destruction witness matches the policy/job during coverage | Pelusium oracle signature (not native killmail verification in Move today) |
Coverage timing follows the job’s delivery window (plus a configured grace period). Exact start/end are set when you purchase—check the app for your policy.
You can usually cancel a policy only while the job is still open or accepted (not after pickup). Cancel refunds most of the premium minus a cancellation fee.
Lifecycle
- LPs deposit into the shared pool (underwriting capital).
- You create or pick a freight job, get a premium quote, and purchase a policy (premium + any small creation fee).
- While the job is early enough, you may cancel for a partial refund.
- If the job delivers, anyone can expire the policy: premium moves into the LP pool as earned yield.
- If the job fails under claim rules, the insured claims and receives up to cargo value from the pool.
How the money moves (simple pie examples)
Numbers below use Pelusium’s default 1.5% premium and 10% cancel fee on Stillness testnet. Your wallet shows the exact quote before you sign.
Example A — haul succeeds
You insure 100 SUI of cargo value and pay 1.5 SUI premium.
- The haul delivers → policy expires.
- That 1.5 SUI premium is earned by the pool (LPs). You do not get cargo payout from insurance (you didn’t need it).
Example B — claim pays
Same policy: 100 cargo value, 1.5 premium. The claim path succeeds.
- You receive 100 SUI claim payout from the pool.
- Your 1.5 SUI premium was already paid in; economically the pool is funding the large payout (premium is tiny next to cargo value).
For LPs, a claim is the risk they underwrite: large payouts shrink pool value relative to shares.
Example C — cancel before pickup
You paid 1.5 SUI premium; cancel fee 10% → 0.15 SUI stays with the pool, 1.35 SUI refunded.
Pool capacity (why quotes can be refused)
The pool will not sell unlimited cover. Pelusium caps locked exposure (active cargo values) at about half of pool value on Stillness testnet.
If the pool is full or paused, new policies can fail even if you have SUI for the premium.
LPs: deposit and unbond
- Deposit — You send SUI; you receive an LP position with shares of the pool.
- Request unbond — Start withdrawing some or all shares; a cooldown applies (often on the order of days—check the app).
- Complete unbond — After the cooldown, burn those shares for your pro‑rata slice of current pool value (which may be up or down if claims hit during the wait).
LPs earn when premiums expire into the pool; they lose when claims pay. There is no guaranteed APY.
Insurance vs speculation vs escrow
| Freight escrow | Insurance | Speculation | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Pay the courier (and optional goods) | Cover cargo value if the haul fails | Side bet on on-time vs late |
| Who puts money in | Shipper locks escrow | Insured pays premium; LPs fund pool | Bettors stake For / Against |
| Who gets paid on success | Courier (per job rules) | LPs earn the premium | For bettors (if on-time) |
| Who gets paid on fail | Often shipper refund paths | Insured claims cargo value | Against bettors |
Using insurance in Pelusium
- Buy cover — Enable Insure cargo when you create a haul, or open Insurance → Policies after you have a job.
- Provide cover — Insurance → Underwrite to deposit SUI as an LP and share pool earnings (and risk).
- Track the pool — Charts on the policies page show TVL, utilization, and freight activity indexed from chain events.
Insurance is experimental on testnet. Premiums are not guaranteed profit for LPs, and policies do not replace careful hauling or corp SOPs.
Related
- Shipping & freight jobs — the haul insurance attaches to
- Speculation pools — optional side bets on the same job’s timing
- Glossary — short definitions
- FAQ — common questions