Freight Claims May Be Harder To Collect Article

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Freight Claims May Be Harder To Collect

Many large companies are requiring their suppliers to ship their goods on shrink wrapped pallets and also require that the freight carriers sign the bill of lading as “Shippers Load and Count”.

Author: Tony Nuzio

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There is another aspect to this and that is some freight carriers use the ”S L & C” notation as a way of limiting their liability. Some carriers contend that if they picked up X number of pallets and deliver X number of pallets, they can not be held liable if there is an ultimate shortage, because they never signed for the actual number of pieces on each pallet.

While this may sound like a logical response, the fact remains that all freight carriers must thoroughly investigate each claim it receives. By merely declining these claims without a thorough investigation, the carrier may be violating the freight claims processing rules.

A recent declination letter we reviewed from a freight carrier clearly indicates that the carrier did not perform a thorough investigation as the following comments they made indicate. The facts of the claim are as follows: The shipper shipped three pallets of product and the customer clearly signed the delivery receipt as ”44 cartons short at time of delivery”.

1. “We did not physically handle the shipment in our system”. Our response, then who did? The shipment moved from Indiana to New York, how did it get there if it was not ”physically handled” by the carrier?

2. “We placed no other shipments on the trailer from the time of pick up to delivery”. The shipment contained 3 pallets. There is no way the carrier moved this shipment from Indiana to New York with only three pallets on the trailer.

3. “Our records do not reflect any unusual incidents during our transportation of this shipment”. Great statement, but the carrier did not supply any documentation such as internal trailer manifests to support their contention.

While the statements made by the carrier are certainly questionable, the carrier should be challenged to provide details to support their contentions. It is not enough defense for the carrier to just make blanket statements, they must be properly supported and shippers have every right to ask for such supporting documentation.

On the other side of the coin, no freight carrier should be required to pay any freight claim unless it is a valid claim. It always goes back to ”Caveat Emptor”- The buyer beware! Both carriers and shippers have an obligation to make sure they have all the claim facts and share them with the other party.

About Author

President and CEO of ICC Logistics, Inc.

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