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• Conditions of Contract

Company Policy

The following are the terms and conditions of contract. Please read them carefully.

1. In these conditions and on the front of this Consignment Note:
   
   'Southern Shipping' means Southern Shipping Co. and “Southern Shipping Representative” means any person who is or becomes at any time a servant or agent of Southern Shipping (including the Master and any of the crew of a vessel owned or operated by Southern Shipping), contractor, or servant or agent of a contractor and includes two or more such persons.
   
   'person' includes any person, firm, corporation, government authority or any other body corporated or unincorporated.
   
   'cargo' means articles, goods and chattels of every description (including the contents of Containers, and also Containers other than Containers supplied by and returnable to Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative) delivered to and accepted for carriage by or on behalf of Southern Shipping under the Contract.
   
   'container' includes any container crate, case, vehicle, tray, flat, stake flat, pallet, packet or receptacle and packaging of every description.
   
   'noxious cargo' means cargo which is liable to become dangerous, inflammable, explosive, damaging or offensive (including cargo liable to damage a Container in which it is carried or other cargo).
   
   'owner' means and includes the owner or owners of the cargo, the consignor, the consignee and any other person who now or hereafter prior to, and/or at the time when the carriage is completed or terminated owns or has any proprietary, contractual or other interest in the cargo.
   
   'vessel' includes any ship, barge, lighter, or other water conveyance of any description.
   
   'government authority' means any government, government statutory or administrative authority or department, or other like body (including any airway, railway, highway , shipping port, customs, police or municipal authorities) and also any officer or representative of any such government authority department or other like body.
   
   'the carriage' means the collection or receipt of the cargo by or on behalf of Southern Shipping at the place of despatch, the transportation of the same to the place at which it is to be delivered to the consignee, and the delivery thereof at the latter place, in accordance with and subject to the provisions of the Contract and also includes all incidental matters which may be ancillary thereto or which Southern Shipping an/or Southern Shipping representatives may deem it expedient to effect in relation to cargo while it is in the possession or under the control of Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative.
   
   'incidental matters' means anything done or to be done to it or in relation to cargo, including (inter alia), moving it to or from and or storing or leaving it at any warehouse, terminal, building yard, wharf, platform or other place or area, loading it onto and unloading it from aircraft, vehicles, railcars, vessels or other conveyances, stowing or packing it in or onto and removing it from any container or containers, fumigating, transhipping, packing and inspecting it, and handling operations of every description.
   
2. Southern Shipping is not a common carrier and does not accept the obligations or liability of a common carrier and reserves the right to refuse to carry any articles at its discretion.  No Southern Shipping representative has authority under any circumstances to accept cargo for carriage other than upon and subject to these Condition s of Contract and the contract under which the cargo is delivered to and accepted by Southern Shipping (in these Conditions called “the Contract”) is that contained in and evidenced by the terms and conditions of this Consignment Note and subject hereto the particulars and instructions furnished by the consignor on the front hereof.  No wavier or variation of or addition tot he contents hereof, nor any agreement, arrangement or representative of any nature, made or purported to be made by Southern Shipping or any southern Shipping representative with respect to cargo or the carriage (other than a freight rate or price specially arranged, either in writing or verbally, as contemplated in condition 6) shall be recognised or have any effect unless and except to the extent set forth herein or otherwise specifically confirmed in writing by Southern Shipping.
   
3. The carrier shall be at liberty to contract or arrange, on any terms, for the whole or any part or parts of the carriage to be performed by any other person or persons and in these conditions any such person is called a “contractor”.
   
4. Southern Shipping and Southern Shipping representatives may affect the whole or any part or parts of the carriage by any means (including inter alia) transportation of cargo by road, sea, air and or rail) as Southern Shipping representatives may deem expedient (notwithstanding any instructions verbal or otherwise of the consignor as to the means by which the carriage or any part thereof is effected).  In or in connection with effecting the carriage or otherwise while cargo is in its possession or under its control Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative may at any time and from time to time, without notice to the consignee or any other owner, transport or move cargo by any route or routes whatsoever, and to or between any place or places whatsoever in the Commonwealth of Australia and its Territories, although in contrary direction to or outside or beyond any customary, intended or advertised route, once or more often in any order backwards or forwards, and whether intentionally or unintentionally for any purpose or under any circumstances, with (inter alia) liberty at any time and from time to time abandon, alter or repeat any voyage or journey, to deviate from any route or in the course of any voyage or journey for any purpose and in any situation, to store or leave cargo for any period or periods at any such place or places, either intentionally or unintentionally, and to effect during any such transportation, voyage, journey or deviation and/or at any such place or places all such incidental matters as Southern Shipping or Southern Shipping representatives may deem expedient.  Anything done by Southern Shipping and/or any Southern Shipping representative in the exercise of any of the rights, powers and liberties hereinbefore provide in this Condition shall form part of the agreed carriage.
   
5. The consignor warrants to Southern Shipping the correctness of the description and particulars of the cargo appearing on the front hereof which are furnished by the consignor and are unknown to Southern Shipping, and Southern Shipping has no knowledge of the marks, weight measure, contents, quality, value, numbers, quantity and /or condition of cargo.  The consignor shall be liable for all extra costs to which Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative may be put and any loss or damage occasioned either directly or indirectly to Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative in consequence of Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative relying upon weight incorrectly specified by the consignor in or any other error in such description or particulars or by reason of any illegal, incorrect or insufficient marking, numbering or addressing of cargo, and the amount of any and all such extra costs, loss and damage shall be paid to Southern Shipping as a charge payable under the Contract.
   
6. Freight shall be calculated and charged at Southern Shipping’s option, on gross weight, measurement, value or quantity of (including the number of Containers or other units comprised in) the cargo and Containers in which it is carried (including both containers in which it is consigned by the consignor or onto which it may be packed by southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative during the carriage) in accordance with Southern Shipping’s standard fright rates and charges operating at the commencement of the carriage for transportation of the cargo from place of despatch to the place of delivery specified on the front hereof(which freight rates and charges are set forth in Southern Shipping’s current freight schedules as from time to time amended and are known to the consignor), unless a special rate or price arranged between the consignor or consignee and Southern Shipping is applicable in which case freight shall be calculated and charged as aforesaid in accordance with such specially arranged rate or price.  For these purposes the weight, measurement, value or quantity or recount or recounting of the cargo shall be deemed to be as specified on the front hereof, provided always that Southern Shipping shall be entitled, (but under no obligation ) to reweigh, remeasure, revalue or quantify or recount or recounting cargo at any time, and if the particulars furnished on the front hereof are found to be incorrect the freight shall be adjusted accordingly and any expense incurred by Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative in connection with such reweighting, remeasuring, revaluing or quantify or recount or recounting shall be a charge payable to Southern Shipping under the Contract.
   
7. Freight, which shall be deemed earned on acceptance of the cargo from consignor, and all charges payable to Southern Shipping under the Contract shall be paid irrespective of whether or not the cargo is ever delivered in accordance with the Contractor or at all, and whether it is damaged or otherwise.  All such freight and charges and all other monies which may become due to Southern Shipping under or by reason of the Contract may be initially invoiced in accordance with the consignor’s charging instructions on the front hereof, and the person so invoiced will be liable to Southern Shipping for the payment thereof, but the consignor will also be and remain responsible for all such freight charges and monies an shall pay the same to Southern Shipping on demand.
   
8. Southern Shipping shall have a general lien over cargo for all amounts payable to it by any owner including all freight and charges payable under the Contract or in respect of any other consignment or contract and any other monies whatsoever (including monies payable as damages or compensation payable by virtue of the operation of any statute or law, or by agreement, or otherwise howsoever) and may refuse delivery of cargo until such amounts have been paid in full.  If any such amount has been owing or continues to be unpaid for more than 30 days after first becoming due for payment Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative may at its discretion and without notice to any owner sell cargo by public auction or private treaty deducting all expenses of detaining and selling the same, apply the net balance of the sale proceeds towards amounts payable to Southern Shipping as foresaid.  Any excess or leftover portion of such sale proceeds and any cargo remaining unsold after all such amounts have been paid in full shall be payable to the consignee.  Neither the existence of such lien nor any such sale shall prejudice or affect Southern shipping’s right at any time to recover any such amount, or any part of any such amount, which remains at the time unpaid, from any owner or other person liable therefore.
   
9. Southern Shipping reserves the right at its discretion to decline to deliver cargo until the identity of the deliveree is established to the satisfaction of Southern Shipping or the Southern Shipping representative by whom delivery is to be effected, by neither Southern Shipping nor any southern Shipping representative shall be under any obligation to refrain from delivering the goods to a person by whom this Consignment Note or copy thereof is not produced or given up or whose identity is not established to its satisfaction as foresaid, and (as provided in Condition of cargo howsoever occurring or arising, or any loss, damage, expense, delay or other thing whatsoever resulting directly or indirectly therefrom.
   
10. In the event that at any time after cargo is received from the consignor, Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative at the time having custody or control thereof concludes for any reason whatsoever that it is impracticable, imprudent, unlawful or against the interests of Southern Shipping or such Southern Shipping representatives, or of any owner, to continue the carriage or deliver the cargo, or such cargo as is in its custody or control as aforesaid, to the place of delivery specified on the front hereof, in the manner originally or therefore contemplated or intended by Southern Shipping or such Southern Shipping representative, or that to do so will be likely to subject the carriage or cargo, or any property of Southern Shipping or any person to damage or delay of whatsoever nature, Southern Shipping or such Southern Shipping  representative may without notice to the consignee or any other owner discharge, unload, and/or retain or deliver such cargo at any other place whatsoever which Southern Shipping or such Southern Shipping representative considers to be convenient and the consignee shall accept deliver thereof at such other place, and any additional costs and expenses incurred by Southern Shipping or such Southern Shipping representative in effecting such delivery at such other place (including cost of any storage which in its discretion it may cause to be effected) shall be a charge payable to Southern Shipping under the Contract.
    
11. In the event that cargo is not made promptly available to Southern Shipping, or the Southern Shipping representative receiving the same, at the place of dispatch specified on the front thereof, at the time arrange between the consignor and southern shipping or such Southern Shipping representative, or the consignee fails to accept delivery of cargo immediately on its arrival at the place at which it is to be delivered or so soon thereafter as Southern Shipping or the delivering Southern Shipping representative requires the additional costs resulting therefrom, as determined by Southern Shipping, shall be an additional charge payable to Southern Shipping under the Contract.
    
12. Cargo is accepted for carriage by Southern Shipping subject to all applicable conditions and requirements imposed under any regulations or otherwise by any government authority, and payment of all duties, imposts, wharfage dues and other charges and expenses payable in respect of the cargo and the carriage thereof.  The amount of any such duties, wharfage dues or other charges or expenses which are paid by Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative and of any coasts and expenses of whatsoever nature arising out of or incurred by Southern Shipping and Southern Shipping representatives in complying with applicable conditions and requirements imposed or purported to be imposed as aforesaid shall be a charge payable to Southern Shipping under the Contract.
13. At all times and under all circumstances cargo shall be and remain for all purposes and in all respects at the sole risk of the owners and neither Southern Shipping nor any Southern Shipping representative shall be under any liability whatsoever, and no claim shall be made or brought by any owners against Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative, for or in respect of any loss or damage (including concealed damage) to or deterioration, contamination, evaporation, wrongful delivery, misdelivery delay in delivery or non-delivery of cargo whensoever and howsoever occurring or any damage, injury or loss of any nature whatsoever sustained or arising in consequence thereof, even if such loss, damage or injury is caused by or arises out of negligence or wilful misconduct on the part of Southern Shipping or of any Southern Shipping representative.
    
14. Southern Shipping and Southern Shipping representatives shall be entitled (but under no obligation) at any time and from time to time to inspect cargo and for this purpose to open or remove any containers.  If at any time (as a result of any such inspection or otherwise) Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative considers that the carriage of cargo as contemplated by Southern Shipping or such Southern Shipping representative ought not to be effected, or further effected either at all or without effecting additional incidental matters, or otherwise taking additional measures or incurring additional expense or risk.  Southern Shipping and any such Southern Shipping representatives shall be entitled to abandon the carriage or to affect such additional incidental matters and measures and all such additional expenses shall be reimbursed to Southern Shipping as a charge payable to it under the contract.
    
15. Perishable goods and other goods if delivered without marks, or with marks obliterated or which do not correspond with those specified on the front hereof, shall be accepted by the consignee (and all other owners) if the same description as appearing on the front hereof, in full satisfaction of the cargo, or that part thereof in satisfaction of which they are delivered by Southern Shipping.
    
16. Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative may at any time sell by public auction or private treaty any cargo being perishable cargo or cargo that has deteriorated or become damaged from any cause whatsoever and which Southern Shipping or such Southern Shipping representative considers should be sold, rather than further carried, because of its nature or condition, and shall account to the consignee for the net proceeds of such sale after deduction of all selling expenses, and less all freight charges and other monies due to Southern Shipping under the Contract or in respect of which Southern Shipping had a lien over such cargo under Condition 8 hereof.
    
17. If an insofar as Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative is at any time of the opinion that any cargo is noxious cargo the same (whether or not Condition 18 has be complied with) may be destroyed, disposed of abandoned or rendered harmless, if Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative considers  this necessary or desirable, without compensation to the consignor or any other owner and without prejudice to Southern Shipping’s right to freight and any other charges due under the contract.
    
18. Noxious cargo must be tendered for carriage unless the consignor has fully disclosed the nature thereof to Southern Shipping and obtained its express consent in writing, any conditions subject to which consent has been given are fully complied with, and such noxious cargo and container in which it is contained is distinctly marked on the outside so as to clearly indicate it nature and so as to comply with any applicable law and the requirements of any governmental authority.
    
19. The consignor and other owners shall be severally liable for and to indemnify Southern Shipping and Southern Shipping representatives against all loss or damage directly or indirectly occasioned by noxious cargo or as a result of noxious cargo being tendered for carriage otherwise than in accordance with Condition 18, and all claims brought by any person or otherwise arising in respect of any such loss and damage.
    
20. If in or in connection with the carriage, cargo shall be loaded on board a vessel for transportation by sea, the contact and in particular these conditions shall continue to apply and no bill of lading will be issued.  Southern Shipping does not and shall not be deemed to undertake the seaworthiness of such vessel, either at or after the commencement of the voyage, the cargo may be carried on deck and whether carried on or under deck will contribute to general average, if any which will be adjusted in accordance with the York/Antwep Rules 1974, and any salvage services rendered to the vessel or its cargo during the voyage by a vessel or vessel owned or operated by Southern Shipping shall be paid for as fully as if such salvage vessel or vessels belonged to and were operated by a stranger.
    
21. Southern Shipping gives no undertaking that the consignee or any other owner will be notified or arrival of cargo, or of any aircraft, vehicle, vessel or other conveyance carrying the same at the place at which cargo is delivered hereunder nor will Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative have or undertake any responsibility or obligation for in relation to cargo once it has been discharged or unloaded at such place, or at any subsequent time.  If Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative shall effect arrangements for storage, transshipment or forward carriage of cargo after delivery as aforesaid, it shall do so only as agent of the consignee and other owners and solely at their risk and expense, but the provisions of Condition 13 shall nevertheless apply as they would if effectuation of such arrangement and everything connected therewith formed part of the carriage.
    
22. Southern Shipping is not responsible for freight and charges forwarded on cargo lost damaged or delayed in transit or otherwise while in the possession or under the control of Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative, or on cargo which the consignee does not accept or reject nor failure by Southern Shipping or any Southern Shipping representative to demand or collect any freight or charges forwarded on cargo from any person, either before or after delivery of such cargo.
    
23. The consignor warrants that he makes the contract for himself and for and on behalf of all owners severally, as the duly authorised agent of each of them, and that he will personally indemnify Southern Shipping and each Southern Shipping representative against tortious or other non-contractual liability of any description whatsoever (including but not limited to liability on conversion, trespass, detinue or negligence) which Southern Shipping representative has or incurs to any owner, for whom the consignor does not or is not duly authorised in fact to make the contract, and is a liability which Southern Shipping or such southern Shipping representative would not have and/or would not have incurred, and /or against which Southern Shipping or such Southern Shipping representative would have had a good defence by virtue of the terms of these conditions, if the consignor had been duly authorised to make and had made the contract for and on behalf of (inter alia) such owner so as to render such owner a party to the contract bound by these conditions.
    
24. The contract is subject to all compulsory rules and requirements of law to which the carriage is subject to the intent and effect that if any provision hereof is to any extent repugnant to or inconsistent with any such rule or requirement, such provision shall to that extent, but no further, be deemed not to form part of the contract.  In that event, any liability of Southern Shipping for loss of or damage to goods will nevertheless be limited to 666.67 special drawings rights per package or unit or 2 special drawings rights per kilogramme of gross weight of the goods lost or damaged, whichever is the higher.
    
25. It is hereby agreed that to the extent necessary to entitle every Southern Shipping representative to enforce and have the benefit of the provisions of Condition 13 and each other provision of these conditions which by its terms applies or extends to a Southern Shipping representative, Southern Shipping, in making this contract, in addition to acting for itself, is deemed to be acting as agent of and trustee for each such Southern Shipping representative, who shall thereby be deemed to be a party to this contract for the purpose of being entitled to rely on such provisions.