Standard Conditions Governing COMBINED TRANSPORT BILL OF LADING
Definitions
“Merchant” means and includes the Shipper, the Consignor, the Consignee, the Holder of the bill of lading, the Receiver and Owner of Goods. The Freight Forwarder means the issuer of this bill of lading as named on the face of it.
The headings set forth for easy reference only.
1. Applicability
Notwithstanding the heading «Combine Transport Bill of Lading» the provisions set out and referred to in this documents shall also apply if the transport as described on the face of the bill of lading , is performed by one more of transport only.
2. Issuance of the “Combine Transport Bill of lading”
2.1. By issuance of this “Combine bill of lading” the Freight Forwarder
a) Undertakes to perform and/or in his own name to procure the performance of the entire transport, from the place at which the goods are taken in charge to the place of delivery designated for the delivery in this Bill of Lading;
b) Assumes liability as set out in these conditions.
2.2. for the purposes and subject to provisions of this Bill of Lading , the freight forwarder shall be responsible for the acts and omission of any person of whose services he makes use for the performance of the contract evidenced by this Bill of Lading
3. Negotiability and title to the goods
3.1. by accepting this Bill of Lading the merchant and his transferees agree with the Freight forwarder that unless it is marked “non- negotiable”, it shall constitutes title to the goods and the holder by endorsement of this Bill of Lading, shall be entitled to receive or transfer the goods herein mentioned.
3.2.This Bill of Lading shall be prima facie evidence of taking in charge by the Freight Forwarder of the goods as herein described. However, proof to the contrary shall not be admissible when this Bill of Lading negotiated or transferred for the valuable consideration to a third party acting in good faith.
4. Dangerous Good and Indemnity
4.1.The Merchant shall comply with rules which are mandatory according to the national law or by reason of International Convention, relating to the carriage of goods of a dangerous nature, and shall in any case inform the Freight Forwarder in writing of the exact nature of the danger, before goods of a dangerous nature are taken in charge by the Freight Forwarder and indicate to him, if need be, the precautions to be taken.
4.2.If the Merchant fails to provide such information and the Freight Forwarder is unaware of the dangerous nature of the goods and the necessary precautions to be taken and if, at any time, they are deemed to be a hazard to life or property, they may at any place be unloaded, destroyed or rendered harmless, as circumstances may require, without compensation. And the Merchant shall be liable for all loss or expenses arising out of their being taken in charge, or their carriage, or of any service incidental thereto. The burden of proving that the Freight Forwarder knew the exact nature of the danger constituted by the carriage of the said goods shall rest up on the person entitled to the goods.
4.3.If any goods shipped with the knowledge of the Freight forwarder as to their dangerous nature shall become a danger to the vehicle or cargo, they may in like manner be unloaded or landed or destroyed or rendered innocuous by the Freight Forwarder, without liability on part of the Freight Forwarder, except to General Average if any.
5. Description of Goods and Merchant’s packing
5.1.The Consignor shall be deemed to have guaranteed to the Freight Forwarder the accuracy, at the time the goods were taken in charge by the Freight Forwarder, of the description of the goods, marks, number, quantity and or volume as furnished by him and the consigner shall indemnify the freight Forwarder against all loss, damage and expenses arising or resulting from the inaccuracies in or inadequacy of such particulars. The right of the Freight Forwarder to such indemnity shall in no way limit his responsibility and liability under this Bill of Lading to any person other than the consignor.
5.2.Without prejudice to clause 6 (A) (2) (C) The Merchant shall be liable for any loses, damage or injury caused by faulty or insufficient packing of goods or by faulty loading or packing within container and trailers and on flats when such loading or packing has been performed by the Merchant or on behalf of the Merchant by a person other than the Freight Forwarder , or by the defect or unsuitability of the containers, trailers, flats when supplied by the Merchant and shall indemnify the Freight Forwarder against any additional expenses so caused.
6. Freight Forwarder’s Extent of Liability
A.1. The Freight Forwarder shall be liable for loss of or damage to the goods occurring between the time he take the good in to him charge and the time of the delivery. Responsibility of the Freight Forwarder for the goods under these conditions covers the period from the time the Freight Forwarder has taken the goods in his charge to the time of their delivery.
2.The Freight Forwarder shall however be relieved of liability for any loss or damage if such loss, damaged caused by:
a) And act or omission of Merchant, or person other than Freight Forwarder acting on behalf of the Merchant or from whom the Freight Forwarder took the goods in charge.
b) Insufficiency of defective conditions of the packaging or marks and / or numbers.
c) Handing, loading, stowage or unloading of the goods by the Merchant or any person acting on behalf of the Merchant.
d) Inherent vice of the goods.
e) Strikes, lockout, stoppages or restraint of labor, the consequences of which the Freight Forwarder could not avoid by the exercise of reasonable diligence.
f) Any cause or event which the Freight Forwarder could not avoid and the consequences whereof he could prevent by the exercise of reasonable diligence:
g) A nuclear incident if the operator of a nuclear installation or a person acting for him is liable for this damage under an applicable international convention or national law governing the liability in respect of nuclear energy.
2.The burden of proving the loss or damage was due to one or more of above causes or events shall rest up on the Freight Forwarder. When the freight forwarder establishes that in the circumstances of the case the loss or damage could be attributed to one or more of the causes or events specified in b) to d) above, it shall be presumed that it was so caused. The claimant shall however be entitled to prove that the loss or damage was not, in fact caused wholly or partly by one or more of these causes or events.
B.When in accordance with clause 6. A-1 the Freight Forwarder is liable to pay compensation in respect of loss or damage to the foods and the stage of transport where the loss or damage occuredis known, the liability of Freight Forwarder in respect of such loss or damage shall be determined by provisions contained in any international convention or national law , which provisions
i) Cannot be departed from by private contract to the detriment of the claimant and,
ii) Would have applied if the if the claimant had made a separate and direct contract with the Freight Forwarder in respect to the particular stage of transport where the loss or damage occurred and received as evidence thereof any particular documents which must be issue in order to make such international convention or national law applicable.
However, delay in delivery occurs when the goods have not been delivered within the time expressly agreed upon or, in the absence of such agreement, within the time which would be reasonable to require of a diligent Freight Forwarder, having regard to the circumstances of the case.
7. Paramount Clause
The Hague Rules contained in the International Convention for the unification of certain rules relating to Bills of Lading, dated Brussels 25th August 1924, or in those countries where there are already in force the Hague-Visby Rules contained in the Protocol of Brussels, dated 23rd February 1968, as enacted in the Country of Shipment, shall apply to all carriage of goods by sea and where no mandatory international or national law applies , to the carriage of goods by in-land waterways also, and such provisions shall apply to all goods whether carried “on deck” or “under deck”.
8. Limitation Amount of Freight Forwarder’s Liability
8.1. When a Freight Forwarder is liable for compensation in respect of loss or damages to the goods, such compensation shall be calculated by the reference to the value of such goods at the place and time they are delivered to consignee in accordance with the contract or should have been so delivered.
8.2.The value of the goods shall be fixed according to the current commodity exchange price or if there is no such price, according to the current market price or, if there are no such prices, by reference to the normal value of goods of the same name and quality.
8.3. Compensations shall not, however exceed 2 SDR (Special Drawing Rights) per kilo of gross weight of goods lost or damaged, unless within the consent of Freight Forwarder the merchant has declared a higher value for the goods and such higher values has been stated in the CT bill of Lading in which case such higher value shall be the limit. However the Freight Forwarder shall not in any case be liable for an amount greater than actual loss to the person entitled to make the claim.
9. Delay Consequential Loss, ETC
Arrival times are not guaranteed by the Freight Forwarder. If the Freight Forwarder is held liable in respect of the delay Consequential Loss or damage other than loss of or damage to goods, the liability of the Freight Forwarder shall be limited to double the freight for the transport covered by this Bill of Lading or the value of the goods as determined in Clause 8, whichever is less.
10. Defenses
10.1.The defenses and limits of liability provided for in these Conditions shall apply in any action against the Freight Forwarder for loss of or damage or delay to the goods whether the action be founded in the contract or in tort.
11. Liability of Servants and sub-contractors
11.1 if an action for the loss or damage to the goods is brought against a person referred to in paragraph 2 of clause 2 , such person shall be entitled to avail himself of the defenses and limits of liability whoch the Freight Forwarder is entitled to invoke under these conditions.
11.2 However if it is proved that the loss of damage resulted from an act or omission of this person done with intent to cause damage or recklessly and knowledge that damage would probably result, such person shall not be entitled to the benefit of limitation of liability provided for in paragraph 3 of clause 8.
11.3 Subject to provisions of paragraph 2 of clause 10 and paragraph 2 of this clause the aggregate of the amounts recoverable from the Freight Forwarder and the persons referred to in paragraph 2 of clause 2 shall in no case exceed the limits provided for in these conditions
12. Method and Route of Transportation
The Freight Forwarder reserves to himself a reasonable liberty to the means, route and procedures to be followed in handling, storage and transportation of goods.
13. Delivery
If delivery of goods or any part thereof is not taken by the Merchant, at the time and place when and where the Freight Forwarder is entitled to call upon the Merchant to take delivery thereof, the Freight Forwarder shall be entitled to store the goods or part thereof at the sole risk of the Merchant , where upon the liability of the Freight Forwarder in respect of goods or that part thereof stored as aforesaid (as the case may be) shall wholly cease and the cost of such storage ( if paid or payable by Freight Forwarder or any agent or sub-contractor of the Freight Forwarder) shall forthwith upon demand be paid by the merchant to the Freight Forwarder.
14. Freight and Charges
14.1. Freight shall be paid in cash, without discount and ,whether prepay able or payable at destination Freight shall be considered as earned by the Freight Forwarder at the moment when the goods have been taken in his charge, and not to be returned in any event.
14.2. Freight and all other amounts mentioned in this Bill of Lading are to be paid in the currency named in the Bill of Lading or, at the Freight Forwarder’s option, in the currency of the country of dispatch or destination at the highest rate of exchange for bankers sight bills current for prepaid freight on the day of dispatch and for freight payable at destination on the day when the Merchant is notified on arrival of the goods there or on the date of withdrawal of the delivery order, whichever rate is the higher, or at the option of the Freight Forwarder on the date of this Bill of Lading.
14.3. All dues, taxes and charges or other expenses in connection with the goods shall be paid by the Merchant.
14.4.The Merchant shall reimburse the Freight Forwarder in proportion to the amount of freight for any costs for deviation or delay or any other increase of costs of whatever nature caused by war, warlike operations, epidemics, strikes, government directions or force majeure.
14.5.The Merchant warrants the correctness of the declaration of contents, insurance, weight, measurements or value of the goods but the Freight Forwarder has the liberty to have the contents inspected and the weight, measurements or value verified. If on such inspection it is found that the declaration is not correct it is agreed that a sum equal either to five times the difference between the correct figure and the freight charged, or to double the correct freight less the freight charged, whichever sum is the smaller, shall be payable as liquidated damages to the Freight Forwarder for his inspection costs and losses of freight on other goods notwithstanding any other sum having been stated on this Bill of Lading as freight payable.
15. Lien
The Freight Forwarder shall have a lien on the goods for any amount due under this Bill of Lading including storage fees and for the cost of recovering same, and may enforce such lien in any reasonable manner which he may think fit.
16. General Average
The Merchant shall indemnify the Freight Forwarder in respect of any claims of a General Average nature which may be made on him and shall provide such security as may be required by the Freight Forwarder in this connection.
17. Notice
Unless notice of loss of or damage to the goods, and general nature of it be given in writing to the Freight Forwarder or the person referred to in paragraph 2 of clause 2 at the place of delivery before or at the time of the removal of the goods in to the custody of the person entitled to delivery thereof under this Bill of Lading, or if the loss or damage be no apparent within 7 consecutive days thereafter such removal shall be prima facie evidence of the delivery by the Freight Forwarder of the goods as described in the Bill of Lading.
18. Non delivery
Failure to effect delivery within 90 days after the expiry of a time limit agreed and expressed in the CT Bill of Lading or, where no time limit is agreed and so expressed, failure to effect delivery within 90 days after the time it would be reasonable to allow for diligent completion of the combine transport operation shall in the absence of evidence to the contrary, given to the party entitled to receive delivery, the right to treat the good as lost.
19. Time bar
The Freight Forwarder shall, be discharged of all liability under the rules of these conditions unless suit is brought within 9 months after
i) the delivery of the goods, or
ii) the date when the goods should have been delivered, or
iii) the date when in accordance with clause 18 ,failure to deliver the goods would in the absence of evidence to the contrary ,give to the party entitled to receive ,delivery, the right to treat the goods as lost.
20. Jurisdiction and applicable law
Actions against the Freight Forwarder may only be instituted in the country where the Freight Forwarder has his principal place of business and shall be decided according to the law of such country.