Case update

Free in stowed Subiaco (S) Pte Ltd v Baker Hughes Singapore Pte (The ‘Achilles’) [2010] SGHC 265

Johanna Hjalmarsson

Scope of contract of carriage – Vessel damaged during loading – Booking note on ‘free in stowed’ terms

Dispute

The defendant’s (BHS) cargo of barite in sacks had been loaded on board the claimant shipowner’s (Subiaco) vessel Achilles for shipment from Vietnam to Australia on FOB Incoterms. The booking note (but not the subsequent bill of lading) stated in the freight rate box ‘fis l/s/d’, meaning in this case ‘free in stowed lashed secured dunnaged’. The booking note also stated that it was to be superseded by the bill of lading. The vessel and its cargo crane were damaged during loading. Bills of lading were issued on the Conlineform 1978. Subiaco claimed, relying on the ‘fis l/s/d’ term in the booking note, that BHS was liable for the act or neglect of the stevedore in loading and causing damage to the vessel’s crane, because loading operations at the load port were to be at the defendant’s risk and expense. BHS denied that it had appointed the stevedoring company, and also denied that it was required to do so.