18 August, 2018
The Indonesian Commercial Code (ICC) provides that a carrier is liable to provide compensation for any damages arising from its failure to deliver cargo, whether partially or entirely, or any damages to the cargo, unless such damage or failure to deliver was caused by force majeure.
Indonesia has not ratified the Hague/Hague-Visby/Hamburg/Rotterdam Rules.
In practice, either the shipper, the consigner, the lawful holder of the bill of lading, the cargo owner or the cargo insurer (by subrogating) is entitled to bring cargo claims against the carrier for loss or damages arising from the carrier’s alleged default.
Article 513 of the ICC provides that if the bill of lading states that the “content / nature / amount / weight / size is unknown,” or a similar clause to this effect, the carrier will not be responsible for any cargo claim, unless the carrier should have known the condition and type of the cargo or the cargo was quantified before the carrier.
Unless otherwise agreed by the parties, the ICC provides a one-year limit to bring legal claims related to: (i) payment to be made by the consignee; (ii) carriage of passengers and luggage against the carrier; and (iii) compensation for cargo damages.
The carrier shall be entitled to receive compensation for damages caused by incorrect or incomplete information related to the nature of cargo, unless the carrier knew or should have known about the nature of the cargo.
Passenger Claims
Indonesia has not ratified the Athens Convention relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea of 1974.
Article 522 of the ICC regulates that the carrier is responsible for passenger safety starting from when the passenger embarks on the vessel until when they disembark. The carrier is obliged to compensate for losses caused by injuries suffered by passengers related to the voyage, unless the injury was caused by the passengers themselves. Should the injury result in death, the carrier is responsible for compensating the spouse, children, and parents of the deceased for the loss. If the passenger is carried based on a third-party agreement, the carrier is responsible for both the passenger and the third party
This is an excerpt from The International Comparative Legal Guide to: Shipping Law 2018. You can see the full chapter here.
For further information, please contact:
Dyah Soewito, Partner, Soewito Suhardiman Eddymurthy Kardono
dyahsoewito@ssek.com