Bill of Lading Terms and Conditions
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- DEFINITIONS
a) AIS is a trade name for Alliance International Shipping LLC.
b) “Bill of Lading” as used herein includes conventional bills of lading, as well as electronic, express and laser bills of lading, sea waybills.
c) “Carrier” means the Company named on the face side hereof and on whose behalf this Bill of Lading was issued, whether acting as carrier or bailee.
d) “Merchant” means the shipper, consignee, receiver, holder of this Bill of Lading, owner of the cargo or person entitled to the possession of the cargo and the servants and agents of any of these, all of whom shall be jointly and severally liable to the Carrier for the payment of all Charges, and for the performance of the obligations of any of them under this Bill of Lading. - WARRANTY/ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
The Merchant warrants that in agreeing to the Terms and Conditions hereof, it is, or
is the agent and has the authority of, the owner or person entitled to the possession of the Goods or any person who has a present or future interest in the Goods. The Merchant acknowledges that the Carrier is a non-vessel operating common carrier (“NVOCC”), and that it neither owns nor charters vessels, as a result of which the Carrier or any sub-carrier, connecting carrier or substitute carrier (which may be a NVOCC) will be required to contract with an actual ocean carrier to accomplish the Carriage contemplated by this Bill of Lading and does so as agent of the Merchant. - RESPONSIBILITY
a) This Bill of Lading shall have effect subject to the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act of the United States (“COGSA”), approved April 16, 1936, and nothing herein contained, unless otherwise stated, shall be deemed a surrender by the Carrier of any of its rights, immunities, exemptions, limitations or exonerations or an increase of any of its responsibilities or liabilities under COGSA. The provisions of COGSA shall govern before loading on and after discharge from the vessel and throughout
the entire time the Goods or Containers or other packages are in the care, custody and/or control of the Carrier, a Participating carrier or independent contractor (inclusive of all subcontractors), their agents and servants, as well as during the entire time the Carrier is responsible for the Goods.
b) The Carrier shall not be liable in any capacity whatsoever for any delay, non-delivery, mis-delivery or other loss or damage to or in connection with the Goods or Containers or other packages occurring at any time contemplated under subdivision a) of this Clause. - MERCHANT’S RESPONSIBILITIES/DESCRIPTION OF GOODS
a) The description and particulars of the Goods set out on the face hereof and any description, particular or other representation appearing on the Goods, Container or other packages are furnished by the Merchant, and the Merchant warrants to the Carrier that the description are correct.
b) The Merchant warrants that it has complied with all applicable laws, regulations and requirements of Customs, Port and other Authorities and shall bear and pay all duties, taxes, fines, imposts, expenses and losses incurred or suffered by reason thereof or by reason of any illegal, incorrect or insufficient marking, numbering, addressing or any other particular relative to the Goods.
c) No Goods which are or may become dangerous, inflammable or damaging or which are or may become liable to damage any property or person whatsoever shall be tendered to the Carrier.
d) The Merchant and the Goods themselves shall be liable for and shall indemnify the Carrier, and the Carrier shall have a lien on the Goods for all expenses of mending, repairing, fumigating, repacking, recoopering, baling, reconditioning of the Goods, also for expenses for repairing Containers damaged while in the possession of the Merchant.
- CONTAINERS.
Goods may be stowed by the Carrier in or on Containers, and may be stowed with other goods. Containers, whether stowed by the Carrier or received fully stowed, may be carried on or under deck without notice, and the Merchant expressly agrees that cargo stowed in a Container and carried on deck is considered for all legal purposes to be cargo stowed under deck. - CONTAINERS WITH REEFER APPARATUS.
Containers with temperature or atmosphere control apparatus for heating, refrigeration, ventilation or otherwise will not be furnished unless contracted for expressly in writing at time of booking
and, when furnished, may entail increased Charges. In the absence of an express request, it shall be conclusively presumed that the use of a dry container is appropriate for the Goods. Merchant must provide Carrier with desired temperature range in writing at time of booking and insert same on the face side of the Bill of Lading, and where so provided, Carrier is to exercise due diligence to maintain the temperature within a reasonable range while the Containers are in its care, custody and/or control or that of any Participating carrier or independent contractor. The Carrier does not accept any responsibility for the functioning of temperature or atmosphere-controlled Containers not owned or leased by Carrier or for latent defects not discoverable by the exercise of due diligence. - CARRIER’S EQUIPMENT:INDEMNITY.
Whenever the Merchant, or an agent, servant, contractor or anyone else acting on its behalf, directly or indirectly, takes possession of or exercises control over a Container and/or any equipment whatsoever owned or leased by, or the use of which is provided to, the Carrier, any Participating Carrier, their agents, servants or independent contractors, the Merchant agrees to defend, indemnify and hold harmless the Carrier, any Participating Carrier, their agents, servants and independent contractors from and against any loss or damage to said Container and equipment, as well as to any third-party property, and for any injury to or death of persons arising out of the use of said
Container and equipment. - MATTERS AFFECTING PERFORMANCE.
In any situation whatsoever before commencement of, during or aŌer the Carriage, which in the judgment of the Carrier is likely to give rise to any hindrance, risk, capture, seizure, detention,
damage, delay, difficulty or disadvantage or loss to the Carrier or any part of the Goods, or make it unsafe, imprudent, impracticable or unlawful for any reason to receive, keep, load, carry or discharge them or any part of them or commence or continue the Carriage at the usual or intended place of discharge or delivery, or to give rise to danger, delay or difficulty of whatsoever nature in proceeding by the usual or intended route, the Carrier and any Participating carrier, without notice
to the Merchant, may decline to receive, keep, load, carry or discharge the Goods, or may discharge the Goods and may require the Merchant to take delivery and, upon failure to do so, may warehouse them at the risk and expense of the Merchant. - DELIVERY.
If delivery of the Goods or Containers or other packages or any part thereof is not taken by the Merchant when and where and at such time and place as the Carrier is entitled to have the Merchant take delivery, whether or not the Goods are damaged, they shall be considered to have been delivered to the Merchant, and the Carrier may, at its option, subject to its lien and without notice, elect to have same remain where they are or, if containerized, devanned and sent to a warehouse or other place, always at the risk and expense of the Merchant and Goods. - CHARGES, INCLUDING FREIGHT.
The Charges payable hereunder have been calculated on the basis of particulars furnished by or on behalf of the Merchant. The Carrier shall, at any time, be entitled to inspect, reweigh, remeasure or
revalue the contents and, if any of the particulars furnished by the Merchant are found to be incorrect, the Charges shall be adjusted accordingly, and the Merchant shall be responsible to pay the correct Charges and all expenses incurred by the Carrier in checking said particulars or any of them. Charges shall be deemed earned on acceptance of the Goods or Containers or other packages for shipment by the Carrier and shall be paid by the Merchant in full, without any offset,
counterclaim or deduction, cargo and/or vessel or other conveyance lost or not lost and shall be non-returnable in any event. The Merchant shall remain responsible for all Charges, regardless of whether the Bill of Lading states, in words or symbols, that it is “Prepaid,” “To be Prepaid” or “Collect.”.
- CARRIER’S LIEN.
The Carrier shall have a lien on the Goods, inclusive of any Container owned or leased by the Merchant, and all equipment and appurtenances thereto, as well as on any Charges due any person, and on any documents relating thereto, which lien shall survive delivery, for all sums due under this contract or any other contract or undertaking to which the Merchant was party or otherwise involved, including, but not limited to, General Average contributions, salvage and the cost of recovering such sums, inclusive of attorneys’ fees. Such lien may be enforced by the Carrier by public or private sale at the expense of and without notice to the Merchant. - GENERAL AVERAGE
a) If General Average is declared, it shall be adjusted according to the York/Antwerp Rules of 1994 and all subsequent amendments thereto from time to time made, at any place at the option of any person entitled to declare General Average, and the Amended Jason Clause as approved by BIMCO is to be considered as incorporated herein, and the Merchant shall provide such security as may be required in this connection.
b) Notwithstanding a) above, the Merchant shall defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the Carrier and any Participating carrier, their agents and servants, in respect of any claim (and any expense arising therefrom) of a General Average nature which may be made against the Carrier and/or any Participating carrier and shall provide such security as may be required by the Carrier in this connection.
c) Neither the Carrier nor any Participating carrier shall be under any obligation to take any steps whatsoever to post security for General Average or to collect security for General Average contributions due to the Merchant. - LIMITATION OF LIABILITY.
Except as otherwise provided in this Clause or elsewhere in this Bill of Lading, in case of any
loss or damage to or in connection with cargo exceeding in actual value the equivalent of $500 lawful money of the United States, per package, or in case of cargo not shipped in packages, per shipping unit, the value of the cargo shall be deemed to be $500 per package or per shipping unit, unless the nature of the cargo and valuation higher than $500 per package or per shipping unit shall have been declared by the Merchant before shipment and inserted in this Bill of Lading, and extra freight paid if required. The words “shipping unit” shall mean each physical unit (e.g., container, bundle, pallet, etc.) or piece of cargo not shipped in a package, including articles or things of any description whatsoever, and irrespective of the weight or measurement unit employed in calculating freight and related charges. Where a Container is not stuffed by or on behalf of the Carrier or the parties characterize the Container as a package or a lump sum freight is assessed, in any of
these events, each individual such Container, including in each instance its contents, shall be deemed a single package and Carrier’s liability limited to $500 with respect to each such package. - NOTICE OF CLAIM: TIME FOR SUIT.
The Carrier shall be discharged from all liability of whatsoever nature unless suit is brought within 1 year after delivery of the Goods or the date when the Goods should have been delivered. Suit shall not be deemed “brought” unless jurisdiction shall have been obtained over the Carrier by service of process. In the event this provision should be held invalid during that period in which compulsory legislation shall apply of its own force and effect, such as during the tackle-to-tackle period, it shall nevertheless apply during all non-compulsory periods during which the Carrier remains responsible for the Goods. - JURISDICTION
All disputes of whatsoever nature under or in connection with this Bill of Lading shall be determined by the United States Federal Court for the Southern District of Florida to the exclusion of any other court PROVIDED ALWAYS that the Carrier may in its absolute and sole discretion invoke or voluntarily submit to the jurisdiction of any other court which, but for the terms of this Bill of Lading, could properly assume jurisdiction to hear and determine such disputes.