15 January 2019
3 min read
#Transport, Shipping & Logistics
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The Chain of Responsibility (CoR) laws require that any goods loaded on a heavy vehicle are properly restrained. For any goods not properly restrained, any person concerned with the packing, loading, securing or carriage of the goods can expect to be held liable under the Heavy Vehicle National Law (HVNL).
But, the load restraint requirements don’t just apply to the goods as loaded onto a heavy vehicle, they also apply to the restraint of goods within a freight container, which is usually done at the point of origin and not visible or able to be inspected by any party further down the chain. So, how do you ensure that you are discharging your obligations in relation to the restraint of goods within a container when you didn’t pack the container and can’t check the load restraint within it once the doors are sealed?
Like many problems, you need to attack it at the source. If containers are packed by someone else within your supply chain, you need to address load restraint with them – prior to the goods being packed.
The ‘old’ HVNL included examples of steps that could be considered reasonable in seeking to prevent load restraint breaches, including:
Recent court decisions have identified the following practical measures as potentially being required by importers, those concerned with the loading of goods into containers and consignors of containerised goods:
This is where the common objection ‘my customer/supplier’ isn’t interested in the load restraint requirements and there’s noting that I can do to change this most often arises. The truth of the matter is that anything is possible, it is usually just a matter of making the request (and exerting the right level of pressure) and/or addressing who will pay any associated costs.
For those further down the chain (e.g. drivers, transport operators) and who have nothing to do with the loading of the goods, the following practical measures have been suggested by the Courts as potentially being appropriate:
Just like in romantic movies, it’s what’s on the inside that counts. The CoR laws require you to look beyond the exterior and find out whether your cargo is good or bad underneath.
Author: Nathan Cecil
* A version of this article was originally published in CoR Adviser. This article is © 2019 Portner Press Pty Ltd and has been reproduced with permission of Portner Press.
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