Surplus goods

A ship agent based in Europe was asked to arrange emergency supplies (food, blankets, medical items) for a Navy ship.

The goods were to be collected in Cyprus and the ship agent liaised with a local agent there. Initially the Navy had requested goods with a total value of EUR1,000,000, but later revised that list significantly to a list of goods with a total value of just EUR50,000.

Unfortunately the ship agent forgot to pass the revised list to the local agent in Cyprus who was still acting on instructions for the full list of goods worth EUR1,000,000. As a result all of the goods arrived at the port for loading in several trucks.

The Navy took the goods they actually asked for and the agent worked hard to try and mitigate the loss stemming from the surplus order with some success, reducing it to EUR350,000.

The losses were clearly a result of the negligent mistake of the agent and therefore ITIC paid the claim.