Costly storage

A ship agent failed to spot that a bill of lading had specific instructions to arrange the delivery of 10 containers of cargo to the port’s free zone, where the consignee would have enjoyed a free storage period of 21 days from the port authority.

Instead, the cargo was shifted to the customs yard, where the cargo immediately started to incur storage charges at a rate of US$ 5.33/ ton. By the time the consignee took delivery of the cargo, one week later, US$ 25,500 in storage costs had been incurred.

ITIC reimbursed the ship agent. This is another example of where small mistakes can lead to significant costs being incurred.