Hazmat carrier — placarded or §172 endorsement on file.
Tier-classified carriers, MCS-90B endorsement, not every market will write you.

The specialty reality.

Once you put placards on a truck, your carrier roster shrinks by half. Standard markets that write general freight at 1.2x baseline will write hazmat at 1.8-2.5x — or decline outright. The carriers that actually write hazmat well (Berkshire-NICO, Markel, Great West for limited tiers) need clean MVRs and a real hazmat compliance posture: route plans, security plans, driver hazmat endorsements current, EPA Tier 1 vs Tier 2 classification correct on your application.

The lines that anchor this specialty.

• AL · Auto Liability Bodily injury and property damage you cause operating a motor vehicle for hire. The anchor line — every other coverage layers on this one.  Detail →
• APD · Auto Physical Damage Collision and comprehensive coverage for your own tractors, trailers, and equipment. Required when units are financed.  Detail →
• MTC · Motor Truck Cargo Damage to the cargo you're hauling. Required by nearly every broker contract; the line where rookie carriers leak the most premium.  Detail →
• WC · Workers' Compensation State-mandated coverage for on-the-job injuries to your W-2 drivers and employees. Texas is the only fully optional state.  Detail →
• GL · General Liability Premises and operations liability — claims arising from your terminal, yard, or business activities that AL doesn't reach.  Detail →
• XS · Excess / Umbrella Liability Layered limits above your primary AL, GL, and Employers Liability. The line that's no longer optional for any fleet with contractual $5M+ requirements.  Detail →
• MCS-90 · MCS-90 Endorsement Federal public-protection endorsement attached to every interstate for-hire AL policy. Not a coverage upgrade — a compliance instrument.  Detail →

Situational add-ons

• CYB · Cyber Liability ELD, TMS, and dispatch-system exposure. Increasingly required by broker contracts as ransomware on trucking dispatch becomes routine.  Detail →
• EPLI · Employment Practices Liability Discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, retaliation claims from employees. Triggered once W-2 headcount crosses 10-15 — especially in CA / NY / NJ.  Detail →

Carriers who write this specialty.

From the 12-carrier panel, these are the markets with declared appetite for your specialty. Carriers that exclude or sublimit your specialty get removed automatically — we don't burn the market.

Don't choose a carrier that excludes your specialty

The rookie program-design error on specialty operations is binding with a generalist carrier whose policy sub-limits the very exposure that triggered the bind. We match per line: your AL might go to a generalist; your specialty cargo or pollution layer goes to a carrier that prices the exposure correctly instead of defensively.

What we typically see for this specialty.

Hazmat severity is the conversation — a single chlorine release on I-95 is a nuclear-verdict event before the lawsuit even names defendants. Frequency is below general freight (these drivers are typically vetted), but a single claim can exceed the entire primary tower.

How we handle specialty claims

MCS-90B endorsement attachment verified on every bind. Hazmat-specific FNOL playbook: regulatory reporting (DOT, EPA, state DEP), evacuation cost reimbursement, environmental remediation reserves. We don't treat hazmat claims as general-freight claims with bigger numbers.