East West Transport Standard Terms and Conditions
1. “Carrier” shall mean Steamships Limited trading as East West Transport (EWT) (Incorporated in Papua New Guinea) its servants, agents and Sub-contractors.
“Consignor: shall mean any or all of; a person for whom the Carrier carries goods, or who provides chattels to the Carrier for storage, or who hires any vehicle from the Carrier, its servants and agents. “Sub-contractor” shall mean and include:-
a) all companies which are subsidiaries of the Carrier within the meaning of that expression as defined in the Companies Act as amended;
b) any other person, firm, company or Statutory body or other organisation with whom the Carrier may arrange for the carriage of any goods the subject of this contract and any person who is now or thereafter a servant, agent, employee or sub-contractor of any of the persons referred to in this clause 1.
2. The Carrier shall perform services and the Consignor will pay for same in accordance with these terms and conditions which may not be waived or varied except in writing by the General Manager of the Carrier.
3. The Carrier is NOT A COMMON Carrier and will accept no liability as such. All articles are carried or transported and all storage and other services are performed by the Carrier subject only to these conditions AND THE CARRIER RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REFUSE THE CARRIAGE OF TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES FOR ANY PERSON, CORPORATION OR COMPANY AND THE CARRIAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ANY CLASS OF ARTICULES AT ITS DISCRETION. The Carrier shall not be bound by any agreement purporting to vary these conditions unless such agreement shall be in writing and signed on behalf of the carrier by an officer duly authorised to do so.
4. INSURANCE WILL NOT BE ARRANGED BY THE CARRIER EXCEPT WITHIN THE EXPRESS INSTRUCTIONS IN WRITING OF THE CONSIGNOR AND THEN ONLY AT HIS EXPENSE AND ON LODGEMENT OF A DECLARATION AS TO VALUE PRIOR TO COLLECTION OR DEPOSIT OF THE ITEMS TO BE INSURED.
5(a) Unless otherwise expressly agreed in writing, no responsibility in terms or otherwise will be accepted by the Carrier for any loss of damage to or mis-delivery of failure to deliver or delay in the delivery of good either in transit or in storage for any reason whatsoever, including negligence, and notwithstanding any delay in delivery by the Carrier.
5(b) Goods shall be deemed to be in transit notwithstanding that the Carriage of the goods may have been interrupted or the Carrier may have diverted from the usual route for such carriage.
6. It is agreed that the person delivering any goods to the Carrier for carriage or forwarding, or storage, or any person seeking hire of a vehicle is authorised to sign our consignment note for the Consignor.
7. The Carrier is authorized to deliver the goods at the address given to the Carrier by the Consignor for that purpose and it is expressly agreed that the Carrier shall be taken to have delivered the goods in accordance with this contract if at that address he obtains from any person a receipt or signed delivery docket for the goods.
8. For contracts of carriage the Carrier’s charges shall be considered earned as soon as the goods are loaded and dispatched.
9. Time for storage of chattels or hire of vehicles will commence from time chattels are delivered to the Carrier or the vehicle departs from the Carrier’s premises and will continue until the chattels are removed or the vehicle returns to the Carrier’s premises in normal working hours. Normal working hours are from 0800 to 1700 hours during the week, Monday to Friday with 1 hour allowed for the midday meal. Overtime for drivers working outside these hours will be charged.
10. If the Consignor expressly or impliedly instructs the Carrier to use or it is expressly or impliedly agreed that the Carrier will use a particular method of handling or storing the goods or a particular method of carriage whether by road, sea or air the Carrier will give priority to that method but if it cannot conveniently be adopted by the Carrier, the Consignor hereby authorizes the Carrier to handle or store or carry or have the goods carried by another method or methods.
11. The provisions of these conditions shall apply to the container or containers or other packaging containing the goods and to any pallets delivered with the goods to the Carrier. The Consignor shall be responsible for the conformity of such containers, packaging and pallets with any requirements of the Consignee and for any expense incurred by the Carrier arising from any failure so to conform.
12. Any goods carried by a vehicle hired from the Carrier are at the risk of the Hirer/Consignor and not the Carrier and unless expressly agreed in writing, the Carrier shall not be held responsible in tort or contract or otherwise for any loss of or damage to or deterioration of goods or mis-delivery or failure to deliver or delay in delivery of goods including chilled, frozen, refrigerated or perishable goods either in transit or in Storage for any reason whatsoever including, without limiting the fore-going, the negligence or willful act or default of the Carrier or others.
13. All work is subject to the published terms and conditions which are either on display at the offices of EWT or printed on our delivery dockets, or will be provided on request.
14. The Consignor will be and remain responsible to the Carrier for all its proper charges incurred for any reason. Payment shall be made by the Consignor no later than 7 days from the date of invoice. The Consignor shall pay interest on any amounts unpaid after the due date at the rate of 25% per annum compounded monthly until the date of actual payment of all outstanding amounts, and shall pay all the Carrier’s own employees costed time. In any legal proceedings for recovery of outstanding amounts a certificate by a senior employee of the Carrier shall be prima-facie evidence of the monies outstanding.
15. A charge may be made by the Carrier in respect of any delay in excess of 30 minutes in loading or unloading occurring other than from the default of the Carrier. Such permissible delay period shall commence upon the Carrier reporting for loading or unloading. Labor to load or unload the vehicles shall be the responsibility and at the expense of the Consignor.
16. If any person fails to pay charges due to the Carrier in respect of any service rendered by the Carrier on reasonable demand being made in accordance with these conditions, the Carrier may detain and at its absolute discretion sell all or any of the goods of that person which are in its possession and pay its outstanding amounts out of moneys arising from such sales. The Carrier shall account for the balance of such sales proceeds and such of the goods as remain unsold to the person entitled thereto. Any such sale shall not prejudice or affect charges due or payable in respect of such service of the said detention and sale.
17. The Consignor or his authorised agent shall not carry on any vehicle hired from the Carrier, or tender to the Carrier for carriage or storage any explosive, inflammable or otherwise dangerous or damaging goods without presenting a full description of these goods and in default of so doing shall be liable for all loss and damage caused thereby.