Tanker and barrel
Damage to the prime mover, trailer and tank, including pumps and metering equipment.
Fuel Tanker Insurance
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Fuel Tanker Insurance
Cover for dangerous goods tankers carting fuel and chemicals.
Carting fuel moves the conversation from vehicle damage to environmental liability. A rollover that spills product can cost far more in clean-up and third-party loss than the tanker itself, which is why pollution wording is central here.
What is it?
Fuel tankers carry petroleum, diesel, LPG and chemicals under dangerous goods licensing, in rigid, semi-trailer and B-double configurations with compartmented barrels. Operators must meet dangerous goods transport requirements, and insurers assess product, route and driver accreditation closely.
What does fuel tanker insurance cover?
Dangerous goods liability
Third-party injury and property damage arising from the product carried, subject to the policy terms.
Pollution and clean-up
Costs following a spill, which is generally addressed by specific wording rather than standard liability.
What affects the cost?
- Product carried and its dangerous goods classification
- Routes, including tunnels and populated areas
- Driver dangerous goods licensing
- Loading and unloading procedures
- Rollover protection and tanker age
Worth raising on the call
- Pollution and clean-up is the exposure that most often outstrips the asset value.
- Dangerous goods licensing conditions usually flow through to the policy terms.
- Confirm whether product in the tank is insured as well as the tank itself.
Claims we are commonly asked about
Overfill on a service station forecourt
Product is delivered into an underground tank that is fuller than the gauge showed, and fuel escapes across the forecourt and into the soil. The site owner's clean-up, lost trading and the environmental remediation usually dwarf any damage to the tanker.
Rollover with product into a waterway
A tanker rolls on a rural bend, a compartment splits and diesel runs into a table drain feeding a creek. Remediation is typically directed by the state environment authority and continues long after the vehicle is recovered.
Coupling or hose failure during discharge
A hose or camlock fitting lets go under pressure during a discharge and sprays product over the forecourt, a customer vehicle and nearby landscaping. Clean-up, vehicle repairs and site downtime are the usual heads of claim.
Worth confirming in the wording
- Worth confirming whether gradual seepage or a leak discovered over time is treated on the same basis as a sudden and accidental spill.
- Worth confirming whether the product in the barrel is insured as cargo and on whose valuation, particularly when you are carting someone else's fuel.
- Worth confirming whether clean-up on third-party land, in waterways and under a statutory direction sits within the main liability limit or under a separate sub-limit.
Common questions
Does public liability cover a fuel spill clean-up?
Standard public liability wordings commonly limit pollution cover to sudden and accidental events and apply a sub-limit well below the main liability limit. Clean-up directed by an environment authority, and loss suffered by neighbouring businesses, can exceed that quickly. It is worth confirming exactly how pollution and clean-up are worded before assuming the main limit applies.
Do I need dangerous goods licensing before I can be insured?
Carrying bulk fuel in Australia generally requires vehicle licensing and driver dangerous goods licensing under the ADG code, administered by state authorities. Insurers commonly make current licensing and compliance a condition of cover, so the two run together. Confirm the current requirements with the relevant state regulator.
Is the fuel in the tank insured as well as the tank?
Not automatically. The motor section generally responds to the tanker and its pumping and metering equipment, while the product being carried is normally addressed by cargo, goods in transit or carriers liability cover. Where you cart product owned by a fuel company, their contract will often tell you what limit they expect you to hold.
What affects the premium on a fuel tanker?
No figure can be given without detail. Insurers generally weigh the product and its dangerous goods classification, the routes including tunnels and populated areas, driver dangerous goods licensing and experience, loading and unloading procedures, rollover protection, tanker age, the pollution limit selected, the excess and claims history.
General information only. Cover, limits and exclusions depend on the PDS, TMD, eligibility, underwriting and the policy terms. See truck insurance for the wider picture.
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