Customer Gateway

General Conditions

1. DEFINITIONS

1.1 In these conditions:

“The Athens Convention” means the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their luggage on Board Ships 1974 (Athens, 13th December 1974).

“The BIFA Conditions” means the Standard Trading Conditions 2000 Edition published by the British International Freight Association (BIFA) as set out below.

“CMR” means the Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road dated 19th May 1956.

“the Company” means P&O Ferrymasters Limited

“the Conditions or these Conditions” means the General Conditions of the Company printed herein and as varied from time to time and any other terms and conditions referred to in Condition 2.

“the Customer” means any person at whose request or on whose behalf the Company undertakes any business or provides advice, information or services.

“the Goods” means all goods and merchandise of any description whatsoever, Transport Units and passengers’ unaccompanied luggage, animals and personal property of all descriptions whatsoever.

“Transport Unit” means any device used for the carriage, transportation or storage of Goods (whether loaded or unloaded) including any container, tanker, tank, vehicle, trailer, vessel, aircraft or other equipment of any type.

1.2 The headings in these Conditions are for convenience only and shall not affect their interpretation.

2. APPLICATION

2.1 The respective rights and obligations of the partiers under these Conditions shall be read and construed as being subject to and governed by the following:

2.1.1 by the BIFA Conditions except that the definition of “the Company” herein shall be substituted for the definition of “Company” in the BIFA Conditions and where the term “goods” is used in the BIFA Conditions, the definition contained in these General Conditions shall be applied; and

2.1.2 in respect of carriage or transportation by sea, by the terms and conditions of the sea carrier (whether or not the sea carrier is the Company) as if the Customer had contracted directly with the sea carrier or as if such terms and conditions had been contained in these Conditions but in relation to any inconsistency between terms and conditions of the sea carrier and BIFA Conditions the terms and conditions of the sea carrier shall prevail; and

2.1.3 if any International Convention (including CMR) applies in accordance with Condition 2 (B) of the BIFA Conditions and it does not contain any provisions relating to an aspect of the contract or an issue between the parties, then, insofar as any of these Conditions do not derogate from the relevant International Convention (including CMR), these Conditions shall apply to the relevant aspect or issue.

2.2 Notwithstanding the provisions of Conditions 2.1.1 and 2.1.2, Conditions 3, 4, 5 and 6 of these Conditions shall prevail over any other terms and conditions therein referred to in the event of any inconsistency between them.

2.3 All and any activities of the Company in the course of business (whether gratuitous or not) are undertaken subject to these Conditions.

2.4 No servant or agent of the Company has the power or is permitted to alter or vary these Conditions in any way unless expressly authorised in writing by a Director of the Company to do so. No unauthorised alteration or variation of these Conditions shall be binding upon the Company unless subsequently expressly agreed by the Company in writing signed by a Director of the Company.

2.5 If any provision in these Conditions is held by any competent tribunal to be invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part, the validity of the other provisions of these Conditions and the remainder of the provision in question shall not be affected thereby.

3. VERIFICATION OF GOODS

3.1 In relation to any Goods or contents of any Transport Unit, the Customer shall take all reasonable steps, or shall procure that the consignee or consignor if not the Customer shall take all reasonable steps, following the arrival of the Transport Unit at the consignee’s premises but prior to discharge of such Goods from the Transport Unit to verify.

3.1.1 that such Goods are (a) the Goods which the Company contracted to carry and (b) the Goods which correspond with the description or sample supplied by the Customer or any other person or body corporate with the Customer’s authority to supply the same and (c) in good condition and uncontaminated; and

3.1.2 that the storage tank, silo, warehouse or other receptacle or place into which the Goods are to be discharged is clean, safe, in good condition and suitable for the storage of the Goods having regard to the characteristics of the Goods; and

3.1.3 that the Goods are properly discharged into the correct tank, silo, warehouse or other receptacle or place for the discharge of such Goods.

3.2 The Customer shall or shall procure that the consignee shall require a suitable person to carry out the verification referred to in Condition 3.1 and to sign and deliver to the driver of each Transport Unit a form of receipt in respect of the Goods containing a statement that such verification has been duly carried out.

3.3 The Customer shall indemnify the Company against all claims and demands whatever and by whomsoever made arising out of, or consequent upon, the failure of the Customer and/or the consignor or the consignee or their servants or agents to observe, perform or comply with all or any part of Conditions 3.1 and 3.2.

4. ENTITLEMENT OF COMPANY TO LIMIT LIABILITY IN RELATION TO OTHER MODES OF TRANSPORT

4.1 Without prejudice to the effect of any other provision herein, where any Transport Unit is carried over part of the journey by sea, inland waterway, rail or air:

4.1.1 if the carrier providing such service is not within the category of persons entitled to limit liability by statute or Convention or other regulation, it shall in relation to transit by sea, inland waterway, rail or air in whatever circumstances loss, damage or misdelivery may arise be deemed to be a person entitled so to limit liability to the extent that any claims recoverable from the Company shall be reduced pro rata in the event of the total claims being in excess of an amount equivalent to the statutory limit applicable to the vessel or aircraft in which the Goods are carried; and

4.1.2 to the extent that it is proved that any loss, damage or delay in delivery of the Goods occurred during the carriage by sea, inland waterway, rail or air, such carriage shall be subject to the condition that the Company accepts the same liability to the Customer in respect of the Goods as that to which any actual carrier by sea, inland waterway, rail or air (as the case may be) would have been subject had the Customer made a separate direct contract with such carrier subject to such carrier’s terms and conditions of business provided such terms and conditions do not impose a liability greater than those set out in the financial limits in Clause 27 of the BIFA Conditions.

5. PERSONNEL CARRIED AS PASSENGERS

5.1 The Customer for itself and as agent for the owner of the Goods and the consignee agrees that any driver or other personnel carried as a passenger or passengers for the purpose relating to any vehicle or other Goods, either in the same ship as such vehicle or goods or otherwise, will be so carried by sea only subject to the Athens Convention and the Company’s Conditions for the Carriage of Passengers by Sea, copies of which may be obtained from the Company or its agents, and the Customer shall indemnify the Company for any liability to any such passenger in excess of the provisions of the Athens Convention whether or not such passenger shall have paid a fare for his carriage.

6. COMPANY’S CHARGES

6.1 The Company’s charges for the business or services undertaken or provided shall be payable by the Customer without prejudice to the Company’s rights against any owner of the Goods or the Goods themselves.

6.2 Where the Company exercises any power of sale of the Goods (whether given by law or by these Conditions), the Company shall be entitled to sell on the basis of the best offer immediately available to it without obligation to investigate any specialist market in such type of merchandise.

6.3 Any claim or counterclaim arising out of the contract of carriage of the Goods shall not be made the reason for deferring or withholding payment of the Company’s charges or any other monies or liabilities incurred by the Company in respect of the owner of the Goods under these Conditions.

6.4 The Company’s charges shall be payable on or before the twentieth day of the month following the month in which the Company’s invoice is issued unless the Company shall in writing have stipulated some other time limit.

6.5 The Company is entitled to charge interest from the date on which the Company’s charges become payable at the rate of 2% per month above the base rate of Barclays Bank plc payable on the same basis as the Company’s charges as set out in this clause.

7. QUALITY ASSURANCE

If the Company is registered in accordance with BS EN IS 09002 in England, the Company nevertheless reserves the right to subcontract the carriage of Goods or other services to a sub-contractor not so registered.