Unpaid freight

In transport, the work is done long before the money arrives. Invoices go out after delivery, payment terms stretch, and a customer that is slow to pay often discovers a complaint about the service just as the reminder is sent. For a carrier or forwarder working on thin margins, a handful of unpaid invoices can matter more than a damaged consignment, and chasing them without a plan often costs more than it recovers.

Recovering freight is ordinary debt collection only in part. Transport law gives a carrier rights of its own and sets limits of its own on them, and those decide how quickly and how safely you are paid:

• the rules on who owes the freight — the sender, the consignee or whoever the terms name — and on freight payable at destination;
• the rules on when freight is earned, and on whether it is still due if the goods are lost or arrive late;
• the rules on setting off a cargo claim against freight, and on terms that exclude it;
• the rules on withholding delivery until the charges are paid, and on the risk of doing so without the right;
• the rules on demurrage, detention and waiting-time charges, and on proving them;
• the rules on claiming directly from the shipper when the forwarder that booked the transport fails to pay;
• the rules on how long a claim for freight remains enforceable;
• the rules on summary payment procedures, and on enforcing a judgment against a customer abroad;
• the rules on a customer’s insolvency, and on the freight still owed when it begins.

Our lawyers can support you with this.