Manifest mistake

A liner agent was responsible for cargo booking, ship handling and the completion of documentation on behalf of their principal. On six separate occasions during a three month period the cargo manifest had been incomplete on the line’s system. This led to port storage and demurrage charges being incurred at the port of discharge.

The line subsequently held the agent responsible and claimed US$28,000. The agent argued that there was “a system glitch” in the line’s software system which caused the manifests to be incomplete on the line’s side of the system as opposed to the agent failing to complete the manifests correctly. Unfortunately by the time the line complained the “glitch” could not be evidenced by the agent.

ITIC reviewed the line’s claim and pointed out the line had included free time for port storage and demurrage. The line’s claim was reduced to US$16,415. ITIC reimbursed the claim to the agent.