Shipowners are invariably in a better bargaining position and able to incorporate various clauses in the contract of carriage / Bills of Lading entitling them to either exclude liability or limit liability for any loss or damage to cargo. Given…
Unitization including containerization has allowed cargo to be moved seamlessly between various modes of transport. Often, there are multiple modes of transport used for the movement of goods, one of them being road and the other either being sea, rail…
One of the functions of a Bill of Lading (“B/L”) is that it acts as a document of Titlei in that the Carrier has a duty to deliver the cargo to the holders of the B This duty to deliver, in…
We were involved, some time back, in a situation in which Owners held lien on cargo and containers (without completing the voyage) and sought payment of the unpaid charter hire based on the dicta of The Pioneer Container. While we…
We have, off late, been seeing some claims related to refrigerated cargo arising due to the machinery outages during the sea voyage and perhaps this is due to the extreme heat conditions at the location from where the cargo emanatesi.…
Standard Trading Conditions (“STC”)i,also known as General Conditions of Business, are standardized trading terms advocated by various professional associations for use by their members (Logistics Service Provider (“LSP”) and who may include Freight Forwarders/NVOCC’s). The reason for their development is…
Although approx. 20% of the seaborne cargo by tonnage is carried in container vessels, they constitute approx. 66% in value of the Global International Trade and employ a substantial number of workers. Container shipping, compared to Bulk shipping, is indeed…
Dry shipping disputes generally relate to contractual breaches with respect to charter partiesi, contracts of carriage, sale & purchase and insurance/reinsurance contracts etc. whereas Wet shipping disputes relate to accidents at sea such as collisions, general average, salvage etc. The…
The Late Sanjeev Bhandari was a doyen of the Marine Insurance field in India. Late Sanjeev Bhandari left for his heavenly abode on 04th Jan 2017 and is sorely missed by all. He was a source of wisdom, knowledge, inspiration,…
A Bill of Lading (“B/L”) is perhaps the most important shipping document given that it facilitates the transfer of title to the cargo. While the B/L is generally considered to have three functions (Receipt, Evidence of a contract of carriage…