Agents’ errors adding to claims figures

International Transport Intermediaries Club has reported that it is continuing to deal on a regular basis with claims resulting from errors by agents involving transhipment cargoes. In one case, an agent in Argentina failed to declare a cargo as transhipment cargo within 15 days of the vessel’s arrival at Buenos Aires, after a simple oversight in the agent’s office. The obligation to make the declaration was strictly enforced and an automatic penalty of 1 per cent of the value of the goods was immediately imposed, amounting to US$122,204. The agent who had failed to make the necessary declaration had to pay the sum demanded by the authorities.