Transport, Shipping and International Trade Web-course: “Risks in transportation and responsibility of the freight forwarder: examples from practice”

28/ 05/ 2020

Today, the final 17th webinar of Transport, Shipping and International Trade Web-course was held. We discussed the main risks during transportation, including: non-payment of freight forwarder services, loss or damage of cargo, delay in delivery of goods, payment for downtime of vehicles, demurrage or refusal of cargo at the port of unloading, retention of cargo and documents, damage to cargo during transportation, etc. Particular attention was paid to the issue of responsibility of the freight forwarder to both the customer and the carrier. Thus, the responsibility of the freight forwarder is very narrowly regulated in Ukrainian legislation, in particular in the Ukrainian Law On transport and forwarding activities and the Civil Code of Ukraine. And the lack of clear legislative regulation entails, accordingly, to an ambiguous interpretation of such provisions by the court. Also, the speaker of the meeting provided the useful advices and recommendations how to protect the rights of the freight forwarder, separately: to analyze the specific traffic scheme and which stages of transportation will be involved; to understand where the liability of specific carriers is limited; if it possible, try to limit the liability under the contract. We hope that relevant examples from practice in the Black Sea region will be useful to you! We thank the co-organizers and speakers of the course for their professionalism, and the participants for their stable interest and positive feedback!

Particular attention was paid to the issue of responsibility of the freight forwarder to both the customer and the carrier. Thus, the responsibility of the freight forwarder is very narrowly regulated in Ukrainian legislation, in particular in the Ukrainian Law “On transport and forwarding activities” and the Civil Code of Ukraine. And the lack of clear legislative regulation entails, accordingly, to an ambiguous interpretation of such provisions by the court. Also, the speaker of the meeting provided the useful advices and recommendations how to protect the rights of the freight forwarder, separately:

to analyze the specific traffic scheme and which stages of transportation will be involved;
to understand where the liability of specific carriers is limited;
if it possible, try to limit the liability under the contract.

We hope that relevant examples from practice in the Black Sea region will be useful to you! We thank the co-organizers and speakers of the course for their professionalism, and the participants for their stable interest and positive feedback!