Case Study of Interlegal at Black Sea Container Summit

On the 11^th of September 2014 Artem Skorobogatov, partner of Interlegal, and Alexander Chebotarenko, senior lawyer of Interlegal, held a Case Study «Hazardous/Liquid Cargos and Damages Caused to Third Persons» in the framework of the 8^th International Black Sea Container Summit 2014 which took place at the Londonskaya Hotel, Odessa (Ukraine), on the 10^th - 12^th of September.

At  their presentations the  experts from Interlegal showed, as examples of some cases from their practice, typical ways  of settling cargo incidents which may cause essential damage to carriers and third parties. They also stated recommendations upon mitigating  risks of casualties and minimizing  consequences thereof.

The valuable experience of settling incidents in various countries (China, India, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey, Georgia, Ukraine, Russian Federation) and variety of cargos causing damages in cases shown above (liquid bromine, aluminum phosphide, sodium bichromate, oils etc.), brought in the interesting and substantial discussions.  

One of the main conclusions at the end of the event concerned the liability  of a freight forwarder, as expert in container carriages,  to the client – cargo owner and the contractor - carrier.

Thus, the lack of carriage organizer’s attention to:

- cargo specificity;

- special requirements for carriage;

- control over cargo packing and stuffing;

- due notification of the carrier,

may cause essential consequences (damage to environment, human health and life etc.) and essential damages (against sea carrier, other cargo owners etc.).

In case of any incidents to cargo, the importance is attributed not only to operative assessment of risks and potential responsibilities of carriage participants,  but also to the issues of proper claim security (guaranties) against the  persons to suffer, statement of facts, cost keeping and proper claim work with guilty parties. 

The lawyers paid special attention to the need in increasing the forwarders’ and carriers’ attention to contractual regulation of their responsibilities as well as to the issues of insuring responsibility both against clients and against third persons.

You can find the further details in the article “International Carriage of Hazardous Cargos” published in the “Ports of Ukraine №7” journal.