The most common incidents in freight forwarding companies

What the course covers

The starting point is contractual position. Article 5.2 of the Ley 15/2009, de 11 de noviembre, del contrato de transporte terrestre de mercancías (Spanish Inland Carriage of Goods Act) provides that intermediaries may only contract in their own name. A freight forwarder issuing its own transport document acts as contracting carrier and answers to its customer even where another party performs the carriage.

On that basis the course takes the recurring incidents: cargo damage and shortage, delay and late delivery, misdelivery or release without the document, errors in documentary instructions and in customs declarations, and unpaid freight where the goods have already been released.

Each incident is worked with its own regime: liability limits, claim periods and the allocation of proof by mode. In sea carriage, notice of damage runs for three working days, with notice on the next working day where the damage is apparent, under article 285 of the Ley 14/2014 de Navegación Marítima (Spanish Maritime Navigation Act).

One module separates roles that are mixed up in practice. The NVOCC is a maritime figure. In air carriage, article 39 of the Montreal Convention uses the term "contracting carrier". And the ship agent does not answer to the consignees of the carriage: article 322 LNM says so, ending the earlier Spanish case law.

The contractual module covers standard terms. FIATA's Model Rules for Freight Forwarding Services, drawn up in 1996 and revised on 3 October 2019, are the international reference text and distinguish acting as agent from acting as contracting carrier.

Who it is for

Traffic, operations and claims managers in freight forwarding companies and logistics operators. Management and credit control dealing with unpaid invoices. Insurers and brokers serving the sector. In-house and external lawyers handling claims for or against forwarders.

Why it matters

A forwarder carries a carrier's liability without operating the means of transport. The defence is built from the paperwork of each leg and from recourse against the performing carrier, which depends on having claimed in time.

FIATA does not publish "Standard Trading Conditions". The terms that apply are each member association's national conditions or the company's own, and that distinction changes which limit can be invoked.

Programme

• The forwarder's position: art. 5.2 LCTTM and acting as contracting carrier
• Damage, shortage and delay: limits, notice periods and burden of proof
• Documentary incidents: instructions, release without original, customs errors
• Unpaid freight after release: securities and recovery routes
• NVOCC, air contracting carrier and the ship agent (art. 322 LNM)
• Standard terms and FIATA Model Rules; recourse against the performing carrier