Mediterranean Shipping Company SA v. BPB Westroc Inc

In Carriage of Goods by Sea on (Updated )

This was an action by the Plaintiff carrier to recover freight from the Defendant shipper. The Defendant’s defence was that it had paid the freight to its freight forwarder. Unfortunately, the freight forwarder went bankrupt without remitting the payments to the carrier. The Prothonotary reviewed the applicable case law and held that a shipper is liable to a carrier for payment of freight unless it presents clear and unequivocal evidence that the carrier released it from liability. The Prothonotary held that the Defendant had failed to discharge this onus and was therefore liable to the carrier for the freight.