Often we receive claims where cargoes such as coffee, cocoa, rise, sugar etc. have become wet and/or mouldy during transit.
Shipping lines use standard rejection: “condensation”, “inherent vice”, BL clauses “ load, stow, count” in order not to pay these claims. It sounds negative. No importer enjoys disputing the obvious, that cargo was heavily rotten due to hole, dents, cracks, flooding etc.
And you may or may not believe me but possessing the right evidence from the origin can save you a lot of time arguing with the carrier and will always yield in positive outcome.
Below are the tactics to help you negotiate cargo claims for water ingress/mould like a Pro.
With the Covid-19 pandemic continuing, resulting in factories and other mass-employment facilities being shut down and employees’ daily wage being cut to a minimum, Africa has seen an increase in cargo claims. We are used to seeing pilferage of cargo from containers during inland journeys. However currently we are witnessing an increase of cargo theft from inland storage facilities such as warehouses. How to prevent losses from cargo theft from storage facilities in Africa and not only? That’s what we’ll show you how to do here.
Shippers recently have received a GRI announcement from carriers - “that starting from June 20th 2021 (BL date) we will be implementing a General Rate Increase 100 USD per container”. Before we answer your question when you should NOT pay GRI or better to say when you can claim GRI waiver, let’s demystify this fee.
With the current cargo transportation landscape of highest ever freight rates, excessive delays and few free time days at the destination now is the time for importers to change the “old ways" how they handle cargo claims in order to stop absorbing losses in the the post “corona economy”.There are few important reasons why in the cargo claim process we consider consignees to have the most important role to support cargo claims recovery. Regardless of Incoterms, geographical location or business size.
3 essential evidence gathering steps to recover cargo losses from liable carriers and settle your claims much faster. Applying these tips will make importer stand out head and shoulders above the rest of the shippers in the cargo claims pool. I know because these are the things I looked for when I worked for the shipping line and these are exactly the things Recoupex team present to carriers now to settle claims on behalf of hundreds of exporters and importers Globally.
In cargo claims, if exporters and importers are not making the effort to learn how to do things the right way, you’ll be making mistakes that will cost you tons of time and money.
Now, before we get into who is responsible for what, our team at Recoupex wanna make a point about this industry: cargo claims are NOT easy. You’re playing a competitive game with other people who are all trying to make money too by putting the blame on someone else.
In the supply chain there are usually 3 areas of responsibility: pre shipment, transit and post shipment.