A costly vacation

A liner agent received notification of an inbound ship on a special call, outside the normal liner schedule. The employee who received the notification scheduled pilotage and began the customs clearance process according to the initial schedule before going on annual leave. They handed over all upcoming port calls and schedules, including the special call, to their team.

After the employee went on leave, the line informed the agent about delays in the ship’s journey, with the ship now arriving at its first port for discharge three days later than initially scheduled. The line and the ship’s Master provided continuous updates, and the line managed to complete customs documents and received clearance ahead of the first port call. The covering team successfully rescheduled the pilotage arrangements at the first port of call but forgot to reschedule them at the second port of call.

This oversight was only discovered when the ship arrived at the port limits, and pilots were unavailable. Urgent rescheduling incurred an additional US$135,000 in costs and fees due to the late notice. The line held the agents responsible for the additional costs due to their negligence. The agents notified ITIC and provided correspondence showing they had received the updated schedule and made necessary changes for the first port but neglected the second.

As there was no defence, ITIC reimbursed the agent in respect of the additional costs, US$135,000, the line incurred.