Florida USL&H Insurance for Ports, Shipyards, and Staffing Agencies

Q: What if we only go aboard a vessel now and then?

That is one of the cases where USL&H, Maritime Employers Liability (MEL), and sometimes Jones Act exposure all need a look. Occasional vessel time is easy to miss on a state-only policy. Tell us how often it happens and whose vessel it is.

If your crew works on a Florida dock, in a shipyard, or around a vessel, Florida workers’ comp may not be enough. The federal Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act — the coverage most people call USL&H or longshore insurance — is a separate system. When that Act applies, a Florida workers’ compensation policy alone does not satisfy it.

We write that coverage. We also write the related marine coverages that often sit beside it: Maritime Employers Liability (MEL), general liability, and marine general liability (GL / MGL). If a cruise line, shipyard, or terminal gave you insurance requirements for a vendor or contractor certificate, send us that page and we will go over it with you.

We are Longshoreman Insurance, the ocean marine specialty division of Old National Insurance Inc. We are an independent agency since 1980, and we have been writing USL&H since 2007. Our office is in Jasper, Alabama. We are licensed in Florida as a non-resident agency. We do not have a Florida office, and we work with you by phone, text, and email.

O. Rickey Harris, Certified WorkComp Advisor (CWCA), is the agent to call. We speak English and Spanish.

Call toll-free 844-667-6640, or call or text Rickey’s cell at 205-275-5005. During office hours you can also call 205-221-5466 or text the office at 205-551-6027. Email RH@LongshoremanInsurance.com, or use the quote form. Office hours are Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 Central, closed for lunch 1 to 2.

Who this is for

This page is for Florida waterfront employers and for out-of-state companies sending people to Florida jobs, including:

Ship repair and shipbuilding contractors and their trades
Dock, pier, terminal, and marine construction contractors
Staffing agencies that supply labor to shipyards and waterfront jobsites
Stevedores, terminal operators, and other harbor employers
Marine vendors and contractors who have been asked for a certificate that includes USL&H, MEL, or marine liability

Whether the Longshore Act applies depends on the work and where it is done, not on the city alone. There is no blanket rule that every job near the water needs USL&H, and there is no blanket rule that Florida workers’ comp is enough. Tell us what the crew does and where they do it, and we will help you sort it out.

Florida ports we work with

We help contractors and staffing agencies whose people work at Florida ports and the yards and terminals around them. If your port is not listed, contact us and we will confirm.

Port of Jacksonville (JAXPORT). A working cargo port with shipbuilding, ship repair, and marine construction nearby. We work with contractors and staffing agencies supplying labor in this region. The U.S. Department of Labor also maintains a Longshore suboffice in Jacksonville for the Southern District.
PortMiami. One of the country’s major cruise and cargo ports. Contractors working on docks, piers, or vessel repair here often need to confirm whether a Florida workers’ comp policy is enough or whether USL&H applies.
Port Everglades. A major cargo and cruise port, with regular demand for ship repair, marine construction, and staffing on terminal and vessel-adjacent jobs.
Port Tampa Bay (Tampa). A Gulf port with ship repair, cargo, and marine contractor work. Tampa is already part of the work we see from Florida; it belongs in any Florida coverage conversation.
Port Canaveral. Cruise, cargo, and waterfront contract work on the Space Coast. Some local governments in this part of Florida, including Brevard County, ask marine contractors to show workers’ compensation with USL&H on the certificate before the work starts. That is a local certificate rule, and it is separate from the federal Act itself.
Port of Panama City. Gulf cargo and waterfront contractor work in the Florida Panhandle.
Port of Pensacola. A smaller Gulf port with repair, marine contractor, and vendor activity.
Port of Palm Beach. Cargo and marine service work on the southeast coast.
Port of Fernandina. A northeast Florida cargo port near the Georgia line, often part of a multi-state crew picture.

What the law says, and what that means for a Florida employer

This section is about the law, not our opinion. The Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act is a federal workers’ compensation law. The U.S. Department of Labor administers it. In plain terms, it can apply when an employee does maritime work and is injured on the navigable waters of the United States, or on an adjoining pier, wharf, dry dock, terminal, building way, marine railway, or other adjoining area customarily used to load, unload, repair, dismantle, or build a vessel. The Department of Labor explains who needs insurance, and the usual exclusions, here: https://www.dol.gov/agencies/owcp/dlhwc/lsinsreq.

A few points employers in Florida run into often:

A Florida workers’ compensation policy is written for Florida’s system, under Chapter 440 of the Florida Statutes. It is not, by itself, the insurance the federal Act requires.
Many employers need both: federal USL&H for the maritime work, and Florida workers’ comp for employees and duties that stay under state law.
Masters and members of a crew of a vessel (seamen) are generally outside the Longshore Act. Their injury exposure is usually handled under the Jones Act and Maritime Employers Liability, not under USL&H.
The Act also has exclusions that apply only if the person is covered by a state workers’ compensation law. Those include certain office and clerical roles, some marina employees who are not doing construction or expansion work, and, in the cases the Department of Labor describes, people employed to build a recreational vessel under sixty-five feet, or to repair or dismantle a recreational vessel in connection with that repair. Do not assume an exclusion applies until someone has looked at the actual duties and the state coverage.
Some injuries can fall in a gray area between systems. That is one reason MEL is often written alongside USL&H.

Our position, as an agency: we will not tell you that you “must” have USL&H just because the job is in Florida or near the water. We also will not tell you that a Florida policy is enough just because you already have one. We look at the work, the location, and any contract or certificate requirements, and we quote the coverage that fits. The Department of Labor is the authority on whether the Act applies. We are the people who help you get the insurance in place if it does.

Staffing agencies

Staffing firms that send people into Florida shipyards, docks, and waterfront jobs often have a harder time placing USL&H than a contractor with its own crew. That is a large part of what we do. If a yard or contractor is asking your agency for a certificate with USL&H, or with USL&H and MEL, before your people can go to work, send us the requirement and a short description of the placements.

MEL, general liability, and marine general liability

USL&H is workers’ compensation for the Longshore Act. It is not a complete marine program by itself.

Maritime Employers Liability (MEL) is for employee-injury claims that may not fit under state workers’ comp or USL&H, including some work aboard a vessel. If your people board a customer’s vessel, or you operate your own boats, this is one of the first gaps we check.
General liability and marine general liability (GL / MGL) respond to third-party bodily injury and property damage. A regular GL policy can be a poor fit for work on or next to the water. Marinas, ports, and shipyards often ask for marine liability wording, additional-insured language, and a waiver of subrogation on the certificate.

We offer premium finance.

Cruise-line vendor and contractor certificates

Florida cruise ports — especially PortMiami, Port Everglades, and Port Canaveral — generate a lot of vendor and contractor certificate requests. If a cruise line, port, or general contractor has given you a list of required coverages, limits, or endorsement language, email us that insurance page. We will review it with you and tell you what we can place. We will not guess at a cruise line’s requirements from memory, and we will not promise that every request can be met until we have read the document.

How to ask us about coverage

Use the quote form. It asks a short set of questions: your name, company, how to reach you, the states where the work is done, the type of work, and when you need coverage. In the description, tell us what the crew does and where. If you have a contract insurance page or a current policy declarations page — the page with the company name, policy number, dates, and limits — you can send that too.

Or skip the form and call, text, or email. My cell is 205-275-5005 for a direct call. The toll-free line is 844-667-6640. We speak English and Spanish.

Old National Insurance Inc.
O. Rickey Harris, Certified WorkComp Advisor (CWCA)
LongshoremanInsurance.com
806 Highway 78 West, Jasper, AL 35501

Florida licenses, as listed by the Florida Department of Financial Services on November 11, 2026: Old National Insurance Inc., agency license L108357; O Rickey Harris Insurance dba Old National Insurance, agency license L003353; O. Rickey Harris, nonresident general lines (property and casualty) license A112218. You can verify these at the Florida DFS Licensee Search.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need USL&H just because the job is in Florida?

No. The Longshore Act is a federal law, and it turns on the work and the place of the work, not on the state line. Plenty of Florida jobs are state workers’ comp only. Plenty of Florida waterfront jobs are not. The only way to know is to look at the duties and the site.

Is my Florida workers’ comp policy enough for dock or shipyard work?

Often it is not. A Florida policy covers claims under Florida law. If the federal Act applies, that state policy does not, by itself, meet the federal insurance requirement. Many employers carry both.

We are a staffing agency, not a shipyard. Does that change anything?

It can make the placement harder, but it does not automatically take you out of the Act. If your employees are doing maritime work on a covered site, the coverage question is still there. We write a good deal of USL&H for staffing firms that supply labor to yards and waterfront jobs.

What if we only go aboard a vessel now and then?

That is one of the cases where USL&H, MEL, and sometimes Jones Act exposure all need a look. Occasional vessel time is easy to miss on a state-only policy. Tell us how often it happens and whose vessel it is.

Do you have an office in Florida?

No. Our office is in Jasper, Alabama. We are licensed in Florida as a non-resident agency, and we handle Florida accounts by phone, text, and email.

Do you speak Spanish?

Yes. We speak English and Spanish.

Can we finance the premium?

Yes. We offer premium finance.