6 February 2013

Cargo interests brought a claim under the bills of lading in relation to a heavily rusted cargo of steel pipes. The pipes were in fact rusty on shipment, but the bills of lading contained a standard form RETLA clause (named after the US case, Tokio Marine & Fire Insurance v. Retla Shipping), on which the owners sought to rely in order to defeat the claim. The RETLA clause sometimes appears on the face of a bill of lading where the carriage involves iron, steel, metal products or timber. The aim of the clause is to qualify the term “apparent good order and condition” by clarifying that, when the cargo was received for shipment, it was not necessarily free of visible rust or moisture, staining, chaffing etc.

Click on the link above to download briefing.