New law on haulier liability imminent

Draft to be presented to
MLA on September 30 ALAN PEAT AFTER A year of hard work on drafting legislation, the Maritime Law Association (MLA) is close to introducing road haulier liability, according to Andrew Robinson, director of lawyers, Deneys Reitz and chairman of the road, rail, air and sea sub-committee of the MLA in Durban. This has been a highly contentious issue up to now because - with an appropriate disclaimer clause in its contract of carriage - the local road transporter can effectively deny any liability for cargo damage, even when there is negligence on the part of the haulier. It is the only area in the logistics chain of any goods where liability is not assumed by the carrier, said transport users, and leaves almighty legal problems in getting claims settled. However, the working group has comprised both lawyers and road transporters, and has not been attempting to dictate to the trucking industry, Robinson added. “We’re trying to strike a balance,” he told FTW. “Attempting to reach a compromise with the transporters - and limiting liability.” There has been a complete revision of the first draft, with the MLA sub-committee rejecting its original idea of re-working the CMR – Europe’s regime applied to goods movement by road transport – and converting it for SA domestic use. “We decided there was just no point in trying to incorporate this civil law regime into SA common law,” said Robinson. So the MLA has been addressing some of the aspects of contracts of carriage which have been causing concern amongst road transport users. This includes the structure of waybills – eventually to be called consignment notes – where the MLA intends to detail the required contents. “Amongst these, for example,” said Robinson, “will be the identification of the contracted carrier, or sub-contractor if any.” On the question of limiting liability, he added: “We have simply formulated a regime of limitation.” The end result, however, will be very definite. “Instead of allowing contractors to opt out of liability,” Robinson said, “no goods will be allowed to be transported entirely at the cargo owners’ risk in the future.” The sub-committee has set a time limit on the completion of the redraft, and intends to present it to the MLA executive committee meeting on September 30.