The International Federation of Freight Forwarders’ Associations FIATA is calling for urgent dialogue with the top carriers, in the wake of recent moves by shipping lines to impose penalties on shippers who misdeclare cargoes. The previous week saw Maersk, Hapag-Lloyd, HMM and OOCL confirm to have adopted a practice of charge fines for misdeclarated cargo reaching up to U$D15,000.
According to shipping lines, this comes in an attempt to improve safety and reduce delays whereby up to a quarter of all serious incidents on board containerships are attributable to misdeclared cargo as referenced by the Cargo Incident Notification System initiative. FIATA’s Acting Director General Mr Stephen Morris stressed that forwarders are fully supportive of the need for safety at sea.
FIATA is still seeking clarity is whether the fines apply solely to the misdeclaration of dangerous goods, or any instance in which goods are misdeclared. Mr Morris highlighted the difference between full container load and less than container load consignments. “If you’re stuffing a container with a variety of other people’s goods, you don’t know the condition of those goods and whether the goods in that container are properly described on the documentation, or whether those goods are compatible in terms of creating a chemical reaction.”
FIATA has been in telephone contact with major carriers, requesting a chance to talk over the matter, and be able to help its members comply with the shipping lines’ provisions.
FIATA, the International Federation of Freight Forwarders Associations, was founded in Vienna, Austria on May 31st 1926. It is a non-governmental organisation that today represents an industry covering approximately 40,000 forwarding and logistics firms, employing around 10 million people in some 160 countries.
