TICC Ltd v COSCO (UK) Ltd - Court of Appeal (Ward, Kay and Rix LJJ) - 5 December 2001

Contract - Incorporation of terms - Whether carrier's freight surcharge incorporated into contracts evidenced by bills of lading for the carriage of goods from Hong Kong to England

TICC Ltd, an English company, had a number of UK customers who acquired goods in the Far East and Hong Kong, and for whom TICC procured shipping space through two agencies in Hong Kong ('the Hong Kong shippers'). The carrier used to ship the goods was COSCO. The goods were shipped on various COSCO vessels under bills of lading which named one or other of the Hong Kong shippers as shippers, and in each case TICC as consignee. The bills of lading were marked 'Freight Collect' and the practice was for COSCO's UK agent ('COSCO UK') to negotiate the applicable freight rates for the line directly with TICC and in due course to collect the freight from TICC in England.