Sorry your cargo has arrived

A ship agent received a spreadsheet from their principal showing the ship on which cargoes had been originally loaded in one column and which of two subsequent feeder ships that would be used to carry the cargo to the final discharge port in another column. The latter two ships were scheduled to arrive a week apart.

The agent misread the spreadsheet and mistakenly notified some of the consignees of the wrong arrival date for their cargo. This error was not noticed until after the first ship had arrived, meaning that some of the consignees had not presented the required clearance documents, believing that their cargo was not due to arrive for another week.

The shipping line held the ship agent responsible for the extra charges received from the terminal due to the delay. The full claim amount of US$ 9,500 was paid by ITIC.