Cho Yang Shipping Co Ltd v Coral (UK) Ltd - Court of Appeal (Evans, Hobhouse and Hutchison LJJ) - 15 May 1997

“Freight prepaid” bills of lading - Whether shippers liable to pay unpaid freight to carrier

The plaintiff shipowners sought to recover unpaid freight from the defendants, Coral (UK) Ltd, under three bills of lading issued in Hamburg for the carriage of containers containing sugar from Hamburg and Bremerhaven to Dubai and Mina Qaboos. Each bill of lading had been issued in Hamburg by EOS Europa-Overseas Schiffahrtsargentur GmbH (“EOS”), the plaintiff’s German agents.