The line between conviction and acquittal can be very thin for a freight forwarder.
This is confirmed by a recent ruling in which the Court of Cassation validated the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Genoa regarding the compensation attributed to a freight forwarder (Krohne Logistik) for the failure to deliver two lots of aluminum entrusted to it by the shipper Fometal in the United States.
The judgment concerned the terms of assumption of the assignment by Krohne, which claimed to be only the freight forwarder of the goods, attributing responsibility for the non-delivery to other parties further down the chain. The Court of Appeal and then the Court of Cassation, however, focused on a bill of lading issued by Krohne, according to which the freight forwarder textually “undertakes to perform /or to procure in its own name the performance of the entire carriage from the place where the goods are taken in charge to the place designated for delivery in this bill of lading; assumes the liability under these conditions. For the purposes of and subject to the provisions of this bill of lading, the freight forwarder is liable for the acts and omissions of any person whose services it uses for the performance of the contract evidenced by this bill of lading.”
Therefore, also for the judges of last resort, “it is therefore confirmed per tabulas the correctness of what was held by the Court regarding the role of freight forwarder-carrier”, a key element for deciding the case. For which, instead, contrary to what was invoked by Krohne, “the Fob (free on board) clause has no relevance […] which has no correlation with the contract of carriage, but only with the sales contracts concluded.”
“Operators, do not stop at labels” commented Davide Magnolia, lawyer of the Lca Law Firm which reported the ruling: “The qualification depends on the set of documents and the obligations assumed. If you undertake to have the entire carriage performed and assume responsibility for it, you will be qualified as freight forwarders-carriers. With the consequent liability.”
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