Here we explain how a time-barred complex cargo claim was successfully settled. An energy storage container was being transported from China to Chile and during the final road transport segment within Chile, the truck carrying the container overturned, resulting in damages estimated at approximately one hundred percent of the container’s value. By the time BARBUSS was appointed, the standard six-month time bar under Chilean law had already expired concerning a direct claim against the local Chilean trucking company.
Recognizing the time bar we switched our focus to the US-based logistics operator which had orchestrated the entire multimodal transportation from its origin in China to its destination in Chile. While this operator had no physical presence in Chile and was not directly involved in the accident, they held contractual responsibility for the complete transit.
The American logistics operator initially invoked the United States Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (US COGSA), citing a clause within their Bill of Lading (BL) that stipulated its application and identified the shipment as a single package. Based on US COGSA’s per-package limitation, their initial settlement offer was a mere fraction of one percent of the total claim value. We countered this argument by asserting the applicability of the Hamburg Rules. We reasoned that since the port of discharge specified on their own Bill of Lading was in Chile, the Hamburg Rules, which are in force in Chile, should govern the liability, irrespective of the logistics operator’s unilaterally imposed terms and conditions.
The primary challenge lay in convincing the US-based logistics operator of the applicability of the Hamburg Rules despite their own Bill of Lading terms and the fact that the damage did not occur while the goods were under their direct physical control.
Through persistent advocacy and a nuanced understanding of international transport conventions, we successfully persuaded the US-based logistics operator to settle the claim based on one hundred percent of the limitation amount stipulated under the Hamburg Rules, representing approximately eighteen percent of the initial claim value.
