The sender loaded 800 kg of temperature-sensitive pharmaceutical products in five envirotainers (air cargo refrigerated containers with active temperature control). A German forwarding agent was used for transport from Austria to the USA. The air way bill covered the entire route. The US carrier accepted the consignment at the destination airport for further transport on a Friday. He decided to put the envirotainers in its own warehouse. The envirotainers were delivered to the carrier’s warehouse during a change of shifts. It was only established on the following Monday that the envirotainers had accidentally not been connected to the electrical mains supply. The pharmaceutical products suffered irreparable damage as a result.
„The recovery was around 20 times greater than the statutory limit on liability.“
Our approach:
First, the contractual situation and the exact sequence of events during transport were analysed in detail. The analysis showed that the forwarding agent was responsible for the entire course of shipping, and that large distances were covered in Europe by lorries. The damage in the USA took place in the warehouse of the US carrier. This warehouse was outside the airport area.
The result:
We were able to recover much of the loss from the forwarding agent through an out-of-court Settlement. The statutory limit on liability was effectively pierced. In a further step we then proceeded against the US carrier, where we recovered a substantial part of the remaining amount. Unfortunately, the US carrier had no transport liability cover, so that payment by instalments had to be agreed, although this was fully settled. Overall the two recovery proceedings were very successful. The total recovered was around 20 times greater than the statutory limit on liability.