In light of the misdeclared cargo contents, Wan Hai Lines announced that forced new measures against shippers who intentionally misdeclare cargo. In fact, the Taiwanese carrier company informed that if the declarations and the shipping documents are not true, it will immediately suspend the delivery operation.
Specifically, WHL warned its customers that has all the rights to suspend the delivery of the cargoes or terminate the delivery contract for the cargoes at any time during the carriage.
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In case that the declarations and shipping forms, documents are not accurate, shippers and notified partners will be fined with $30,000 per container for misdeclared hazardous cargo, and $20.000 per container for non-hazardous contents.
You shall pay the punitive damages of USD30,000 per container for Hazardous Cargoes which declarations are intentional concealment, omission or misstatement, and USD20,000 per container for Non-hazardous cargoes which declarations are intentional concealment, omission or misstatement.
…the company stated.
Overall, cargo misdeclaration is a major issue which usually causes container fires onboard. Mark Russell, Vice President, Head of Cargo Claims in London and Charmaine Chu, Claims Executive in Hong Kong discuss the severity of cargo misdeclaration and the impact it has on the shipping market.