STEVEDORE DAMAGE

STEVEDORE DAMAGE

The Stevedores are mostly appointed by charterers, shippers or receivers.So if stevedores cause damage to the ship’s equipments  then the master must show attention to comply with the terms of the charter party relating to stevedores.

Sometimes charter parties may contain terms which provides that charterers are not responsible for any damage caused by stevedores.

I will give some examples below a little later but the master and chartering department  must show big attention about that if stevedores will attend by the others as above to put the responsibility on them if any claims occur due to stevedores.

Charterers may not always escape liability due to clauses below. But as owners are not always have any contractual contact witb stevedores and as aresult have no direct recourse againt them.

That is why the master must comply with any clauses as below.To make matter worse if all the documentation covering the incident has not been completed at the time of the incident, recovery may not be possible as we saw many times.

Together with this ; The Master must ensure that all the unrepaired stevedore damage is noted in any off-hire survey , the charterers are invited to instpect damage repairs being carried out in the dry- dock.

The example clauses are as follows;

“ Charterers not to be responsible for stevedore or other damage to the vessel unless notified in writing by the Master at the time of the occurance of the damage or as soon as practical . The Master is to co-operate with Charterers and Agents in giving prompt Notice of Claim in writing  to party causing damage and securing their admission  of liability.Copy of correspondence,together with original letter acknowledging liability, if any, to be sent to Charterers . On damage occurring , Master shall immediately report telegraphically to Charterers.”

“Charterers, Shippers or Receivers shall not be responsible for the act and default of the stevedores at loading / discharging ports. All claims for damage allegedly caused by Stevedores to be settled directly  between Owners and Stevedores at Loading / discharging ports. Master to notify Stevedores of damage, if any, in writing within 24 hours after occurance, otherwise Stevedores not to be held liable.”

As I wrote previously on this Blog about “the Charterers’ liability” , I wrote their responsibilities towards to parties and the stevedore damages are the Charterers’ liability and they are responsibe towards to owner if they attend the stevedores.

But some times the above parties add such a clauses on the Charter Parties so that thet can escape any responsibility.

It is meaningless, the Charterer, shipper or receiver will attend the stevedore , but they will add such a clauses , as a result the charterer department of the owner company will not take care of it , so if ,any claim occur the owner who have not any contract with but  will come to face to face with stevedore company which  attended by the other party. It is realy big paradox.

Then I will say again the master and the charterer department must be very carefull  when they hire the vessel and look into all clauses very carefully and pleae read the Charterers’ Liability again to understand what is their responsibilities towards  to the  owner, the  vessel and the Cargo owner etc., to make sure to protect the owner’s  and vessel’s rights accordingly.

Afterwards  we see many big problems as a result and the charterer departments  are not aware about it and they expect the P&I Club or H&M insurer will companse  the damage.

This shows to me that they only look to hire the vessel and the rights of the owners and vessels are always in the  second place.

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