Matsuura Machiner Corporation and Others v Hapag Lloyds AG and Others (The “Heidelberg Express”) - Federal Court (Trial Div)(Pinard J) - 5 March 1996

Cargo claim brought against land carrier who had carried cargo after it had been discharged from oceangoing vessel - Whether Federal Court has jurisdiction over claim

The plaintiff cargo owners claimed damages in respect of damage to a cargo of machinery. The cargo had been loaded into two containers by the shippers and forwarded by them to a port terminal in Japan. The plaintiffs had arranged through forwarding agents for the carriage of the cargo from Japan to Toronto with Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line (“NYK”). NYK had arranged with Hapag Lloyds AG, the owners and operators of the vessel Heidelberg Express , the carriage of the containers from Japan to Port Elizabeth, New Jersey. The containers were loaded on board the vessel, and NYK issued its own form of bill of lading to the shippers. The bill of lading acknowledged receipt of the containers at the Japanese port terminal for carriage by water to the port of discharge at New York for delivery at Toronto and evidenced NYK’s undertaking to perform the carriage by ocean and by surface transport subject to the terms and conditions of the bill.