The rush to build AI infrastructure is exposing a gap between the cost of replacing critical equipment and the financial damage when that equipment fails to arrive intact, putting cargo coverage under closer scrutiny before data center construction begins.
Developers sourcing turbines, cooling equipment and chips face long replacement lead times and contractual commitments that can make a damaged shipment far more consequential than its insured value, according to Herman Brito (pictured), marine, cargo and logistics practice leader for the US and Canada at Marsh Risk.
CBRE reported a record 7,481.1 megawatts of data center capacity under construction across its eight primary US markets in the first half of 2026. Some 80.4% was already preleased, illustrating how much development is committed to customers before completion.
Brito said his teams are seeing greater take-up of delay in start-up (DSU) coverage for project cargo, particularly for data centers. Meanwhile, advance purchasing is concentrating valuable equipment in storage and on ships, creating larger exposures that require coordination across insurance teams.
Those demands are emerging in a cargo market where Brito said additional capacity has softened pricing. Access to cheaper coverage, however, leaves brokers with questions about whether the placement matches the project’s potential losses.
Read more: Soft inland marine market opens door to higher limits as equipment values surge
A turbine damaged in transit can prevent a developer from powering the graphics processing units, or GPUs, needed to provide customers with AI computing capacity. Replacing that turbine may take years, leaving the developer facing financial consequences throughout the delay.
Brito said he had seen buyers seeking turbines from unconventional sources, including NASA and Disney, as they try to obtain equipment for their buildouts.
Depending on the sale’s delivery and risk-transfer terms, known as Incoterms, the equipment manufacturer may be responsible for insuring a turbine through to its destination. That does not necessarily address the buyer’s wider exposure.
“They’ll reimburse you for the turbine, if the terms of sale say that. But they’re not going to factor in the liquidated damages and the financial penalties you’re going to have in the contract for not delivering the GPUs on time,” Brito said.
Marsh’s construction and energy and power teams have been bringing marine specialists into client conversations earlier, before construction starts and while equipment is being sourced overseas.
Brito described a structure in which clients purchase cargo coverage on a contingent basis around the manufacturer’s insurance, alongside primary DSU coverage. In the arrangements he outlined, buying the cargo coverage enables the DSU placement; the delay protection cannot simply be purchased separately. This calls for earlier insurance discussions about the coverages fit together, including which party insures the goods and where the developer’s financial exposure begins.
At the same time, supply chain uncertainty is changing purchasing behavior. According to Brito, businesses are ordering earlier and in bulk to secure what they need for future projects.
Import dependence adds to the logistics exposure. In an August 2025 analysis, Wood Mackenzie estimated imports would supply 80% of US power transformers that year. It also estimated US demand for those transformers had risen 116% since 2019, reflecting pressures across the electricity sector.
The result is more equipment accumulating before it can be installed. Marsh’s marine teams are working with property colleagues to secure capacity for those storage exposures. Clients are also putting more goods on individual ships to reduce repeated shipments or bring equipment in together, said Brito.
The insurance discussion includes how much uncertainty a business is willing to carry on its own balance sheet, even when cheaper coverage is available.
That also means considering an insurer’s claims approach and willingness to support a client over time. Brito cautioned against repeatedly switching markets for short-term savings when complex claims could test the relationship.
For larger exposures, he raised captives and institutional capital as potential approaches, alongside an assessment of how much risk the business can retain and fund itself.
Read more: Data center buildout pushing insurers toward reinsurance and global capacity
“In certain cases, because of pressures, we have clients saying, ‘We just need the cheapest price. We’ll take the risk,’ and we work accordingly,” Brito said.
“We take a short-term, medium-term and long-term view. With every structure we put together, we’re trying to set the client up for the future. That requires us to anticipate how exposures are going to change. If new vessels are coming on board, they’re going to be bigger.”
