20 L
Issue 6 2011
Conventional thinking for the freight forwarder
ast year, I wrote about the vital importance to a freight
forwarder of incorporating his standard trading conditions - whether BIFA or of his own or his lawyer’s devising - into each and every contract concluded with a customer. This remains the case, but he must not delude himself into thinking that his world is bounded by these conditions. Freight forwarding implies international trade and, when goods are sent from one country to another, international convention applies. Where the convention conflicts with the terms of the forwarder’s trading conditions, it will override them. The reason for this is that,
so far as the UK is concerned, international conventions to which this country is a signatory have the force of statute law by Act of Parliament. Thus, the CMR Convention (Convention Relative au Contrat de Transport International
de Marchandises
par Route in the original and overriding French version) was brought into UK statute law by the Carriage of Goods by Road Act in 1965 and both the Hague Rules (the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading) agreed at Brussels in 1924 and their subsequent amendment in the Hague-Visby Rules following
the Brussels Protocol of 1968 have entered English law by way of the various Carriage of Goods by Sea Acts (COGSA). Because they appear on our Statute Book, they take precedence over private terms of contract where international trade is concerned. As you may imagine, it was
not easy in the past to bring several
countries around the
same table to discuss legislation affecting trade but, with the creation of the United Nations in 1945, the position changed and, today, UNCITRAL, the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law, is the forum for debating proposed developments. International conventions seek
to impose uniformity with regard to international trade by imposing similar levels of responsibility on all those engaged in moving cargo from one country to another but, since each sovereign state must acquiesce and sign the convention, this does not always occur. At the time of writing, there are at least three international conventions in force covering the carriage of goods by sea - Hague, Hague-Visby and Hamburg Rules - and now we are faced with the threat of another, the Rotterdam Rules, which has many maritime lawyers rubbing their hands with glee since they will keep courts
ByRodd Bankier
around the world occupied for many years. Primarily, all international
conventions on the movement of cargo by sea, air or land set out the standard of care to be expected of the carrier in handling and transporting cargo and compensation for loss or damage in the event that standard is not reached. It is appreciated that the carrier cannot be deemed responsible for every circumstance that may result in loss, so there is always a list of exclusions on which the international carrier may rely in order to avoid liability. So, clearly, the international
carrier is heavily involved but why should the freight forwarder be concerned - surely he is just the intermediary, acting as agent for the goods’ owner? Well, maybe he is but, in English law generally, anyone who holds himself out to be a carrier is deemed to be such whether he has the capability and equipment to carry out that function or not. Thus, if a freight
forwarder issues a house bill of lading, or a CMR consignment note, or even an air waybill to his customer he may be a carrier and should make certain he is properly insured for this contingency. As ever, my advice is to talk to your specialist freight liability insurance broker who may also be able to assist you in drawing up bills of lading and other documents. It is easy for the forwarder to be
drawn into the chain of carriers but, if you wish to avoid this, don’t issue any transit paperwork and make it as clear as you can to your customer that you will be acting as his agent to organise the transportation. When you invoice him, ideally you should show your charges separately as: ‘To arranging freight.’ Many freight forwarders,
of course, operate fleets of trucks and, so far as European transportation is concerned, they will be the international carrier. Rodd Bankier is a director of
specialist broker Peter Lole & Co Ltd
www.peter-lole.co.uk
Less carbon equals tastier food supply chain
Food and drink group Princes
has increased its commitment to use the Manchester Ship Canal following the signing of an earlier agreement with canal operator Peel Ports to switch 3,000teu per year from road to barge. The company now expects to switch around 6,500teu to the canal, reducing its road miles by up to 500,000 per year and cutting its annual CO2 emissions by over 500,000kg. A Princes spokesperson said: “By
importing through Liverpool, we had already reduced our carbon footprint; however we then looked
at the possibility of utilising Peel’s Liverpool
to Manchester barge
service to reduce it even further. This has been a great success, and by removing thousands of containers from the UK’s roads we have delivered a real environmental benefit. ” Stephen Carr, head of business
development at Peel Ports Mersey said with 70% of goods that come within a 150 mile radius of the Port of Liverpool entering the UK though southern ports, this added further strain on the country’s overburdened
transport networks and led to unnecessary CO2 emissions. However, he pointed out:
“Liverpool is the most centrally positioned deep-sea port in the UK, meaning it is ideally situated to serve all cargo bound for
Food firm has slashed road miles by using the Manchester Ship Canal
Northern Britain by optimising the supply chain, and we are delighted that this has been recognised by Princes and other food and drink suppliers including AB World Foods, Heinz and Kingsland Wines.”
///NEWS FEATURE
NEWS ROUNDUP ROAD & RAIL
UK-bas ed international fr ei gh t s pecialis t R edh ea d International has signed a partnership agreement with Czech company AWT Čechofracht. While the two companies have worked together for many years in Northern England, the new agreement makes Redhead AWT Čechofracht’s sole UK partner. Redhead marketing manager Austin Duffy said: “We are constantly looking to improve both our services and client support, and having established a significant footprint in Eastern Europe, Russia and the CIS, we were keen to work with a partner that would enable us to enhance not only the quality of service, but the frequency and system flexibility our clients already experience.” AWT Čechofracht, established in 1952, provides freight transport between the Czech Republic and a range of countries.
UK independent freight and logistics operator Simarco is launching new services to Bulgaria and Romania aſter striking a partnership with one of the region’s largest freight companies, Unimasters Logistics. Services will operate to Sofia and Bucharest with weekly runs from Simarco’s domestic depots at Witham, Manchester and Barton-under-Needwood - the newest addition to its UK network - to both capital cities.
Hellmann Worldwide Logistics UK has launched another direct service from the UK to the east of Germany in conjunction with Deutsche Transport Compagnie. Operating from Basildon and Lichfield in the UK to Nuremberg and vice versa, it complements existing services to Osnabrück, Stuttgart, Hanover, Whittlich, Frankfurt and Hamburg.
Malcolm Rail, a division of logistics provider the Malcolm Group, has launched a new rail service between PD Ports’ Teesport and Scotland. The new service is operated by Direct Rail Services and runs between Teesport’s container terminal and Malcolm Rail’s multimodal terminals in Grangemouth, Scotland’s busiest container port, and to Elderslie near Glasgow. The service was primarily set up to cater for the spirits trade but also carries other cargo. It currently runs once a week, but Malcolm Rail aims to ramp the service up to five days a week. The service also links into Malcolm Rail’s other 60 train services per week from six terminals nationwide.
DB Schenker Rail, Southampton bulk terminal operator, Solent Stevedores and ABP Southampton have handled the first long- distance rail shipments of salt from its newly-created aggregate rail terminal. Two 1,200-tonne shipments-or 40-wagon loads-of white marine salt were moved out of one of two dedicated open- access bulk rail terminals to Teesside.
GB Railfreight is launching a new intermodal service from
Felixstowe to Manchester, starting on 30 September. The new service of 22 wagons is a ‘turn up and go’, non-contracted train - customers need no long term commitment to secure space. GBRf now runs six services a day from the Suffolk port.
Direct Rail Services (DRS) and Stobart Rail ran a special rail service from Felixstowe to the new Stobart Rail
facility at
Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal (DIRFT 2) on 15 October. Following the success of this first train it is anticipated that more services could follow in the near future.
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