Addis Fortune (Addis Ababa)
Eden Sahle
23 April 2011
Akakas Logistics Plc claimed that the suit filed against it by KAS International Trading Plc, for allegedly failing to fulfil formalities in the shipment of 25,000kg of dry ginger to Yemen, is barred by a period of limitation, on April 15, 2011.
The dispute arose when Akakas Logistics, a shipment agent that forwards imports and exports, was contracted by KAS International, which exports agricultural products, to deliver the ginger shipment to Omareside Babegail Aden, a Yemeni company.
Akakas failed to issue a bill of lading to the plaintiff, according to the charge filed at the Federal High Court, Ninth Civil Bench, on March 14, 2011. The alleged failure cost KAS the payment it was supposed to receive through Dashen Bank SC the plaintiff alleged in the charge.
The shipment was delivered to Omareside later than it was supposed to be, and the price of the ginger had depreciated, causing the client to return the shipment to Ethiopia on the same ship, operated by Pacific International Lines Transit Co (PILTC), the charged claimed. Akakas failed to inform KAS of the shipment’s status in a timely manner, claimed Girma Mekonnen, lawyer of the plaintiff.
AKAKAS was informed of the shipment arriving back in Djibouti Port by a letter written by KAS to the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority (ERCA), the defendant claimed.
It does not have any relation with Omareside nor was it given the right to represent the plaintiff and inform it of the status of the shipment, the defendant alleged.
The charges were filed two years after the contractual agreement to facilitate the shipment was annulled, argued Binyam Terfa, the defendant’s lawyer.
The shipment was delivered to the shipping company on March 5, 2009, and the distance between Djibouti and Aden is not more than a two-hour trip; the charge was brought on March 14, 2011, after the expiry of the period of limitation, Binyam claimed.
The two parties had a cost freight and insurance (CFI) shipment agreement, making Akakas responsible for the shipment only as far as it reaching Djibouti Port, the defence alleged.
It was verbally communicated to the plaintiff, who claims that it was not provided with a bill of lading indicating that sea freight costs must be paid on time and in advance, to make the payment to the shipping company in order to be provided with a bill of lading because the defendant’s duty was only to deliver the shipment to the shipper, responded the defendant in documents sighting PILTC as a witness.
The plaintiff cannot claim the return of the dry ginger, which was packed in a 12.2-metre container, while it had not paid the sea freight costs in advance, the defendant alleged. KAS filed the charges to recover the costs of warehousing the returned shipment at Djibouti Port, which amounts to more than the shipment costs it incurred, the defendant claimed.
The plaintiff paid the shipment costs only 24 days after the shipment left Djibouti, Akakas claimed. It also accused KAS, of not asking for the bill of lading at the time.
The plaintiff received the original bill of lading from PILTC after paying the sea freight costs directly to the agent, prohibiting it from claiming another bill of lading, the defendant also claimed.
Had the ginger been sold, KAS would have received only 139,257 Br as a result of its failure to export a quality product, Akakas argued in refuting the one million Birr claim against it.
“The plaintiff has neither the legal nor contractual grounds to claim this payment while it had left the shipment in Djibouti Port due to its failure to pay the warehouse rent,” the defendant’s response read.
Ayesheshum Melese, the initial presiding judge who was transferred to another bench due to an administrative order of the court, had adjourned the case to April 15, for the first hearing.
He was replaced by Bisrat Tehileku, to whom the file was not submitted for pre-trial evaluation, he told the plaintiff and defendant before adjourning the case to May 13, 2011, for the formal hearing to start.
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Freight Forwarder Claims Exporter Files Suit Too Late