Drayage and Port Trucking Insurance: UIIA Requirements and Trailer Interchange
A port or rail yard wants proof of insurance before it will release a container to your truck, and the certificate form asks for things your regular policy never mentioned: trailer interchange, a hold-harmless endorsement, equipment providers named as additional insureds. If your policy was written for dry van or flatbed work, the first question is which of those pieces you already have. The Intermodal Association of North America publishes the answer on its UIIA insurance page, and this guide walks through it.
The UIIA's insurance page requires commercial auto liability with a $1 million combined single limit and commercial general liability of $1 million per occurrence, with no self-insured portion. It also calls for trailer interchange coverage and, for most equipment providers, cargo coverage. For comparison, the federal minimum for for-hire nonhazardous property is $750,000 (49 CFR 387.9), so the UIIA asks for more than the federal rule.
What the UIIA is
The Uniform Intermodal Interchange Agreement is the contract that governs how motor carriers pick up and return containers and chassis that belong to someone else. The companies that own that equipment are called equipment providers, or EPs, on the UIIA's pages. A drayage carrier moves the box between the port or rail ramp and the customer, so most of what it pulls is not its own. The insurance requirements exist because of that fact. Damage to borrowed equipment lands on the carrier holding it, and the equipment provider wants proof that someone can pay.
The filing that goes to FMCSA is a separate matter. The insurance company that writes your policy sends FMCSA the filing the federal rules require, and the UIIA certificate is a second document for a different audience.
Auto liability
The page requires a commercial auto policy with a combined single limit of $1 million. The policy must be written on an Any Auto, Scheduled and Hired, or All Owned and Hired form. An All Owned or Scheduled Only policy is not acceptable. Because of that last point, a policy that suited your old operation can fail here even when the limit is right, so read the symbol or form description on your declarations page before you apply.
Every equipment provider you do business with must be named as an additional insured on the auto liability policy. The UIIA's EP checklist (Form 5C) can serve as a reference, and the page says agents may use blanket additional insured wording. Ask whoever services your policy which method your policy uses, because it affects how long the paperwork takes to assemble.
Trailer interchange
Trailer interchange covers physical damage to non-owned equipment while it is in your care, custody or control. The page says it must include comprehensive, collision, fire and theft, and that most equipment providers require it. The limit and deductible vary by provider, and the page sends readers to Form 5B for them.
This coverage matters because your own physical damage policy generally covers your trucks, and a chassis or container you pulled in from the yard is not yours. That is a general description, and your policy forms decide, so confirm with the policy in hand. A loss on borrowed equipment with no trailer interchange in place is the kind of claim a drayage carrier wants to find out about before it happens. Our physical damage insurance guide covers the coverage you carry on equipment you own.
Cargo, general liability and workers' compensation
- Cargo: the page says most equipment providers require some cargo coverage, with limits and deductibles that vary by provider. See motor truck cargo insurance for how cargo policies work.
- General liability: the page requires $1 million per occurrence, with no portion self-insured.
- Workers' compensation: the page says some providers require it with statutory limits, and some also require employer's liability. The page gives no dollar limits for either.
Because the requirements differ by provider, the list of providers you plan to work with decides what you need. Make that list before you ask for a quote, since each name on it can add a requirement.
The certificate and the endorsements
The page says one ACORD 22 certificate is submitted online for the insured, so you do not need a separate certificate for each equipment provider. The certificate has to carry the insurers' NAIC numbers and their AM Best rating and effective date. It must also confirm that one of three hold-harmless endorsements, UIIE-1, CA23-17 or TE23-17B, is on the auto policy. Umbrella policies must say which underlying policies they sit over.
The page also states that policies need 30 days' cancellation notice, or 10 days for nonpayment. Because a canceled policy can end your access to the equipment, the notice terms are worth checking on the policy itself and not only on the certificate. The certificate comes from whoever services your policy.
Before you apply: a short checklist
- Pull your declarations page and read the auto symbol or form description. It needs to match one of the three accepted forms.
- Confirm the combined single limit is at least $1 million, because the UIIA figure is higher than the federal minimum.
- List the equipment providers you will deal with, because each must be named as an additional insured.
- Ask whether trailer interchange and cargo are on the policy now, and at what limits and deductibles.
- Ask which hold-harmless endorsement your policy carries.
- Check the cancellation notice terms on the policy.
Each item is there because a missing one is a reason for a certificate to be rejected or for a claim to be questioned later, and each has a direct fix: change the form, raise the limit, add the endorsement or add the coverage.
What this guide does not cover
- We read the UIIA's insurance requirements page and 49 CFR 387.9 on October 25, 2026. The web fetch tool summarized both, so check them against the UIIA insurance page and the current regulation before relying on a number.
- We did not read Form 5B, so this guide gives no cargo, trailer interchange or workers' compensation limits.
- The page may change, and individual equipment providers can set their own rules.
- Port-specific, state and drayage-registration rules are not covered.
Where to start
You do not need every form to begin. A DOT number and your renewal month is enough to start. We review your file and your DOT record before we quote, then go through the UIIA items above against the policy you carry now. Claims advocacy, DOT and safety know-how and a file reviewed before it goes out are what the truckers we talk to want in an agent. Our owner-operator insurance requirements guide covers the base coverages.