Amwins Program Underwriters (APU), part of Amwins' underwriting division, has formed a new carrier partnership with Sentry Insurance to support its inland marine contractors' equipment program, adding capacity and admitted options for contractors' equipment risks across the US.
The arrangement broadens APU's ability to insure equipment central to contractor operations, including cranes, riggers, concrete pumpers and millwrights, with protection available for owned, rented and borrowed equipment. The program is underwritten by a team with a combined 50 years of inland marine experience and is backed by an A+ (Superior) rated carrier, according to Amwins' product information.
“Contractors rely on their equipment to keep business moving, and when that equipment is at risk, so is their bottom line,” said Heather Frain, senior vice president and head of inland marine at Amwins Program Underwriters. “This new offering positions us right at the intersection between efficiency and expertise, allowing us to identify gaps in coverage and quickly solve our clients’ needs.”
The program is distributed through Amwins brokers and retail partners and sits alongside APU’s existing construction-related offerings, including its crane and rigging general liability program, which targets heavy lift, steel erection and concrete panel contractors nationwide. Sentry will provide admitted and nonadmitted paper for the inland marine facility. The Wisconsin-based mutual holds an A+ (Superior) financial strength rating from AM Best and appears on the Fortune 1000, reflecting its scale in the US commercial lines market.
The partnership comes at a time when contractors' equipment exposures are drawing increased attention from both insureds and carriers. Industry estimates suggest construction equipment theft remains a persistent issue in the US, with thousands of pieces of equipment stolen annually and losses commonly cited in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Average losses per heavy equipment theft are typically in the tens of thousands of dollars, and recovery rates for stolen equipment remain relatively low.
Against that backdrop, uninsured or underinsured equipment can pose a significant risk to contractors’ cash flow and project schedules, particularly on thin-margin work. APU’s public program materials indicate that its contractors’ equipment facility is aimed at a broad range of classes, from cranes and street-and-road equipment to tools used by artisan and specialty trade contractors, with options designed to address theft, damage and downtime risks.
From a market standpoint, inland marine for contractors’ equipment has generally been viewed as more stable than some other property lines, but it is closely tied to construction activity and to crime trends at job sites. Recent analyses have highlighted concerns around equipment theft, vandalism and project delays, prompting contractors and insurers to focus more on security, tracking technology and risk controls.
In that environment, the APU–Sentry facility gives brokers another specialty option for placing complex equipment schedules and signals continued carrier appetite for well-underwritten inland marine risks placed through experienced program administrators, even as underwriting scrutiny on equipment-heavy accounts continues to increase.
