Shipping is the global economic artery and a field with high professional thresholds. To transport goods from the port of departure to the port of destination, it is necessary to go through many links such as booking, customs declaration, warehousing, etc., involving communication and coordination between shippers, consignees, freight forwarders, shipping companies and other parties.
Recently, the Shanghai Maritime Court accepted many cases of "big losses" caused by "small mistakes" in the process of booking, packing and customs declaration, reminding shipping practitioners to pay attention to business details and improve risk prevention awareness.
This "Saint Petersburg" is not that "Saint Petersburg"
With the globalization of trade, the number of routes between ports is increasing. It is worth noting that among the many ports in the world, ports with similar or even identical names are not uncommon. Therefore, when choosing a route, not only should you carefully check the port of departure, intermediate port, and port of destination, but you should also pay attention to the country or region where the port is located to avoid unnecessary losses caused by the same name of the port.
In a maritime freight forwarding contract dispute, the plaintiff entrusted the defendant to book a container and requested that the goods be shipped from China to St. Petersburg. Subsequently, the defendant selected the port of destination as the Port of St. Petersburg in Florida, USA in the booking system. After learning this, the plaintiff stated that the correct port of destination should be the Port of St. Petersburg, Russia. However, at this time, the goods had already been shipped, and the subsequent goods were unloaded at the Port of Jacksonville, Florida, USA, and arranged to be transferred to the Port of St. Petersburg, Russia, which resulted in a number of expenses such as freight, demurrage, and storage fees from the Chinese port of departure to the Port of Jacksonville. The two parties had a dispute over the cost and brought it to court. Although the dispute in this case was successfully resolved under the organization and mediation of the judge, if the two parties carefully checked the port of destination and its country and region at the beginning of booking, communicated more, and confirmed more, the possibility of disputes would be greatly reduced.
Why does one box of goods become half a box
In international trade, in order to reduce freight costs, shippers usually calculate carefully and strive to make full use of container space. When it comes to consolidating multiple pieces of goods, it is even more necessary to check carefully in time to avoid missing goods.
In a dispute over a maritime freight forwarding contract, the plaintiff entrusted the defendant to handle the packing and customs declaration of three goods. Considering the shortage of containers and high freight rates at the time, the plaintiff decided to deliver the three goods to the defendant's warehouse in two batches and transport them in one container. After the goods arrived at the destination port, the consignee found that the actual quantity was inconsistent with the quantity to be received, and there was only half a container of goods that should have been a full container. After communication, only one of the goods was declared and packed for shipment, and the rest were still in the defendant's warehouse. In order to deliver the remaining goods to the consignee, additional shipping costs and other expenses were incurred. As to who should bear this cost, both parties insisted on their own opinions and brought the case to the court. Under the auspices of the judge, a settlement was finally reached.
The judge reminded the participants in the shipping industry that when the goods involve batch transportation to the warehouse, adding goods and assembling, the entrusting party should clarify its instructions and consolidation requirements, and the entrusted party should strengthen communication and docking with the customer, and confirm with the customer in time when encountering uncertain situations.
Dangerous goods number with a single word difference
During the booking process, true cargo material information must be provided, especially the incorrect declaration of dangerous chemicals may endanger the safety of life and property. In practice, all major shipping companies have taken punitive measures, including fines, for concealment and misreporting. Since there are many things to fill in when booking, the name, category, UN number, packaging and other information of dangerous goods should be carefully checked to avoid filling in or filling in the wrong information.
In a dangerous goods transportation booking freight forwarding dispute, the UN number of dangerous goods was 1760 and the number of pieces was 1780. When the cargo owner modified the gross net weight data of the goods, he mistakenly filled in the UN number as 1780. Because the UN number in the embarkation form did not match the maritime dangerous goods declaration information, the goods could not be boarded, and the cargo owner was also charged a fine of 30,000 US dollars for the wrong declaration of dangerous goods by the shipping company. For this reason, the parties concerned had a dispute over the burden of the fine for the wrong declaration of dangerous goods.
The judge suggested:
The complexity of shipping has put forward higher requirements for shipping participants. A small mistake can lead to a big mistake. How to avoid the "big loss" caused by "small mistakes"? The judge suggested that it can be taken seriously from the following aspects.
First, implement written avoidance of misunderstandings. The key information of sea freight should be confirmed in writing to avoid misunderstandings due to homophones and abbreviations during oral communication and communication software communication, so as to ensure that the goods are delivered to the destination port smoothly and accurately. This information includes the name, weight, size, quantity, packaging method of the goods, and the port of departure and destination of the transportation.
Secondly, full communication and accurate docking. Communication with relevant parties should be maintained throughout the transportation of goods. When it comes to changes in key information of cargo transportation, full reminders and timely confirmations should be given. When emergencies occur, all parties should maintain close communication and properly resolve them to avoid losses and expansion as much as possible.
In addition, use data to improve efficiency. At present, some liner companies and freight forwarding companies have used big data analysis to compare the booking cargo information with the information retained by customs, ports and other departments, automatically correct errors and remind, and avoid obstacles to sea freight arrangements caused by low-level errors.
