When it comes to freight shipments, there are limits to the amount of coverage provided by the carrier's liability. The CMR Agreement sets the maximum liability for carriers at 8.33 SDR per gross kilogram of lost or damaged cargo. Customers should be aware that freight forwarders, who act as an aggregator of logistics services, cannot be held fully responsible for any incident that may occur, such as theft, loss, damage, delay, or seizure of cargo. The freight forwarder is liable for any loss or damage to the cargo and related costs if their direct fault is established in the provision of services as the principal.
Importers often assume that their cargo shipments are automatically insured within the limits of the carrier's liability. Ocean carriers are responsible for goods from the time they are loaded onto the ship until they are unloaded from it. In some cases, the value of a shipment may exceed the amount covered by the included liability, especially when shipping used products. It is important to understand that freight forwarders and carriers have limited liability and customers should consider additional insurance to cover any potential losses.
