In recent years, amid the global economic downturn, the overall foreign trade environment has not been optimistic.
The consignee goes bankrupt, the goods are abandoned at the destination port, and the trade balance cannot be recovered; even when the container arrives in Africa, the Middle East or South America, the goods are lost before the goods are signed by the consignee. Accidents such as being robbed or being robbed occur from time to time, causing the vast number of foreign trade freight forwarders to suffer huge economic losses.
Today, I would like to share with you two typical cases to learn how to prevent international shipping risks.
Case 1: The value of the container was not declared, but only a few thousand yuan was compensated for millions of goods!
In 2013, after the plaintiff Yiwu Duizheng Import and Export Co., Ltd. received a foreign trade clothing order totaling US$236,640, it entrusted a freight forwarder to book space with the defendant Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., Ltd., and the case involved Containers are loaded and transported at Ningbo Port.
After the goods arrived at the port, the truck driver of Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., Ltd. reported to the local police that the truck he was driving and the container were hijacked by armed gangsters.
For this reason, Duizheng Company filed a lawsuit on the grounds that the goods involved were lost during the period of responsibility of the Merchant Shipping Club and its customers were unable to obtain the goods, requesting an order to order the Merchant Shipping Club to compensate for the loss of the goods. 232,000 US dollars, sea freight of RMB 23,955.43 (a total of approximately RMB 1.66 million) and two types of deferred payment liquidated damages.
After trial, the Ningbo Maritime Court ruled that the Merchant Shipping Club should compensate Duizheng Company for the loss of goods in the amount of US$1,391.67 (equivalent to approximately RMB 9,000) and the corresponding interest, and rejected Duizheng Company’s other claims. Claims.
Judge’s statement
FOB trade term is the main term for my country’s foreign trade export enterprises The foreign trade method adopted. Under the influence of the “Going Global” strategy, my country’s small and medium-sized foreign trade companies have vigorously explored markets in emerging economies. At the same time, they are subject to multiple risks such as foreign market integrity, security order, and destination port policies.
The verdict in this case was that the goods were worth US$232,000, but in the end they could only get more than a thousand US dollars in compensation. It also sounded the alarm to the majority of small and medium-sized foreign trade companies: they must ask for transportation when shipping goods. The person issues the bill of lading and records the value of the goods on the corresponding document.
my country’s Maritime Law stipulates that if the loss or damage of goods occurs in a certain transportation section of a multimodal transport, the multimodal transport operator’s liability and liability limit shall be adjusted accordingly. Relevant legal provisions on transportation methods in this section. The transportation in this section takes place in Mexico and Mexican law shall apply.
The merchant shipping club submitted a legal opinion that was notarized locally and certified by the Chinese embassy and consulate, which can be used as a basis for determining the carrier’s liability and its limit.
Relevant Mexican laws stipulate that when the service user does not declare the value of the goods, the liability will be limited to the current minimum wage of 15 days in the Federal District of Mexico per ton, if it is less than one ton It is calculated on a proportional basis.
The customs declaration submitted by Duizheng Company shows a total value of the goods of US$232,000, which corresponds to the value recorded in the foreign trade order, but the value of the goods is not copied on the bill of lading. It is shown in the package and the Mexican inland waybill that it cannot be proved that the value of the goods has been declared and the carrier and land transport section carrier have been informed, so the carrier’s liability should be limited to the current minimum wage of 15 days per ton in the Federal District of Mexico.
Based on this, the Ningbo Maritime Court determined that the Merchant Shipping Club’s liability amount was US$1,391.67 (equivalent to RMB 9,000 yuan).
Case 2: No one picked up the goods at the destination port, and the shipping company claimed more than 200,000 yuan in demurrage fees
In October 2013, Zhuoli Electric Co., Ltd. in Cixi, Zhejiang wanted to export a batch of electric irons and entrusted Zhejiang Sinotrans Co., Ltd. Ningbo Mingzhou Branch to book space with Maersk Line.
Maersk’s bill of lading shows that the shipper is Zhuoli Electric, the consignee is Fagor, the departure port is Ningbo, the unloading port is Barcelona, 1 40-foot container, freight to pay.
On November 19 of the same year, the goods arrived at the destination port for unloading, but Fagor was unable to pick up the goods due to bankruptcy, and the goods incurred high demurrage fees at the destination port.
According to the fee standards published by Maersk on its website, as of October 29, 2014, the detention fee for a 40-foot container was 30,104 euros, based on the current Euro-RMB exchange rate: 1: Calculated at 7.6474, it is equivalent to more than 200,000 yuan.
Maersk filed a lawsuit with the Ningbo Maritime Court, requiring Zhuoli Company and other defendants to pay demurrage, freight and other related expenses.
The Ningbo Maritime Court ruled that after the goods involved arrived at the port, Zhuoli Electric Company confirmed that it knew in early December of the same year that the consignee, Fagor Company, had filed for bankruptcy protection and was unable to take delivery of the goods.
Although he immediately asked the plaintiff about the return of the goods and the cost and received no reply, as the shipper of the goods involved, he should continue to pay attention to the current status of the goods at the destination port and subsequent processing. Promptly provide handling instructions for goods arriving at the port to avoid being shipped at the destination.�Incurring high costs.
In this case, Maersk was also at fault for the higher destination port charges. Maersk only notified the relevant parties about three months after the goods arrived at the port without anyone picking up the goods. When the shipper failed to give instructions on how to handle the goods, it also failed to take effective loss mitigation measures, such as transferring the goods to a warehouse with lower storage costs. etc. There are also faults in this.
For this reason, Zhuoli Electrical Appliances and Sinotrans Mingzhou Branch bear the freight, equivalent to RMB 16,690; Zhuoli Electrical Appliances also has to pay a demurrage fee of RMB 50,000.
The judge’s statement
Affected by the sluggish international economic situation, some foreign buyers went bankrupt and some Some hope to lower the price of goods through delay. Some goods are inspected and detained by customs when they arrive at the port. Some buyers discover in advance that the goods have quality problems, etc., which will cause container goods to be detained in the port for a long time and incur a lot of expenses.
Currently, disputes involving shipping companies claiming port storage fees and overdue container usage fees from shippers are increasing due to cargo being stranded at the port for a long time without anyone picking it up.
During the trial, it was also discovered that buyers from some South Asian countries had bad intentions at the beginning of the trade and caused customs auctions of the goods by not taking delivery of the goods for a long time in order to purchase them at low prices, which resulted in Domestic exporters suffer losses.
For this reason, when foreign trade units conclude sales contracts with foreign buyers, they should try their best to adopt CIF terms and use letters of credit for foreign exchange settlement, and require the issuance of instruction bills of lading.
The advantage of these measures is that even if the buyer wants to default and does not want the goods, the seller can directly collect the payment under the letter of credit. </p
