The Terms and Conditions below are a shortened version of our full Terms and Conditions, which apply on all carriage by us. A copy of the Long Form Version is available on request from our nearest office to you and/or on our internet site.
- 1. DEFINITIONS
The following definition apply to the terms and condition set out below that govern this contract of carriage between you and us
"We", "Us", "Our" and Mercury mean Mercury Express Logistics and Subsidiaries
and affiliates of Mercury and Mercury's employees, agent and Independent
Contractors;
"You" and "Your" means the sender, (consignor or consignee of the shipment,
holder of a (consignment note, receiver and owner of the contents of the shipment
or any other party having a legal interest in those contents;
"Carriage" means and include the whole of the operations and services
undertaken by us connection with the shipment;
"Shipment" means goods or document of whatever nature (whether in bulk or in
more packages) which we have accepted for carriage from one address to another,
whether under our consignment note or not
"Prohibited Items" means any good or materials the carriage of which is
prohibited by any law, rule or regulation of any country in or over which the
shipment travels;
- 2. THE PARTY WITH WHOM YOU ARE CONTRACTING
Your contract of carriage is with Mercury or the subsidiary or affiliate of Mercury from
you. You agree that we may subcontract the whole or any part of the carriage on any terms
and conditions we decide
- 3. YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF OUR TERMS OF CONDITIONS
By giving us your shipment you accept our terms and conditions set out in the
consignment note and or the contract of carriage on behalf of yourself and/or anymore
else who has an interest in the shipment irrespective of whether you have signed the
front of our consignment note or not. Our terms and conditions also cover and can be
invoked by anyone we use or subcontract to collect, transport or deliver your shipment
as well as our employees, director and agents. Only one of our authorized officers may
agree to a variation of these terms and conditions in writing. When you give us the
shipment with oral or written instructions that conflict with our terms and conditions we
shall not be bound by such instruction
- 4. SCOPE OF THE CONTRACT
- a. Irrespective of whether a separate contract of carriage was agreed between you and
us or the carriage of the shipment forms part of another type of contract between
you and us, these terms and conditions apply to the contract agreed between you
and us in respect of any carriage of goods pursuant to the contract.
- b. By conducting any type of contract with us you agree that:
- The contract is a contract carriage of goods by road if the
carriage of the shipment actually takes place by road
- the contract is a contract carriage of goods by air if the
carriage of the shipment actually takes place by air
- 5. DANGEROUS GOOD/SECURITY
- 5.1 Dangerous Goods
- a) Except in the circumstances shown in paragraph 5.1(b) below we do not carry
goods which are in our sloe opinion dangerous goods including, but not limited
to, those specified in the international Civil Aviation Organization (CAO)
technical instructions, the international Air Transport Association (IATA)
dangerous goods regulations, the International Maritime Dangerous Goods
(IMDG) code, the European Agreement concerning the International carriage of
Dangerous goods by Road (ADR) regulations or any other national or
international rules applicable to the transport of dangerous goods
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b) We may at our discretion accept some dangerous goods for carriage in some countries if
you have been accorded the status of an approval customer and this must be given
to us in writing before your shipment can be accepted. Your dangerous goods will
only be accepted if they comply with the applicable regulations (as referred in
condition 5.1 a) and our requirements. Details of our requirements together with
the procedure for applying for approved customer status are available from our
nearest office and a dangerous goods surcharge will be invoiced to you upon
acceptance of your shipment
- 5.2 Air Cargo Security Regulations
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a) You must ensure and you hereby certify by completing our consignment note or
tendering a shipment to us that your shipment doesn't contain a prohibited article as
specified in ICAO Annex 17 or other national or international regulations that
govern aviation security. You must give us a full description of the content of the
shipment on the consignment note and your responsibilities and liabilities are not
extinguished by providing this information. shipments carried by us may be
subjected to security screening which could include the use of X ray equipment
and you accept that your shipment may be opened and the contents of your
shipment may be examined in transit
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b) You declare that you have prepared the shipment for carriage in secure premises
using reliable staff employed by you and that the shipment has been safeguarded
against unauthorized interference during preparation, storage and transportation
immediately prior to acceptance for carriage of the shipment by us.
- 5.3 Prohibited Items
- We do not accept shipments that contain prohibited items
- 6. CUSTOM CLEARANCE
- 6.1 You hereby appoint us as your sole agent for the purpose of clearing and entering
the shipment through customs and you hereby certify that we are the consignee
for the purpose of designating a customs broker to perform customs clearance and
entries if we subcontract this work. If any customs authority requires additional
documentations for the purpose of confirming the import/export declaration or
our customs clearance status it is your responsibility to provide the required
documentation at your expense
- 6.2 You certify that all statements and information you provide relating to the
exportation and importation of the shipment will be true and correct. You
acknowledge that in the event that you make untrue or fraudulent statements
about the shipment or any of its content you risk a civil claim and /or criminal
prosecution the penalties for which include forfeiture and sale of your shipment.
To the extent that we may voluntarily assist you in completing the required
customs and other formalities such assistance will be rendered at your sole risk.
You agree to indemnity us and hold us armless from any claim that you may be
brought against us arising from the information you provided to us and any cost
we will incur regarding this and administration fee we may charge you for
providing the services described in the article
- 6.3 Any customs duties, taxes, penalties, storage charges or other expenses we incur
as a result of the action of customs and other governmental authorities or your
failure and/or the receiver's failure to provide proper documentation and/or to
obtain the required license or permit will be charged to you or the receiver of the
shipment. In the event that we decide to charge the receiver and the receiver
refuses to pay the incurred charges you agree to pay them to us together with the
incurred charges you agree to pay them to us together with our fee for the
administration involved as well as any extra costs we will incur. Upon our first
request you will provide a proper guarantee for any of the duties, taxes, penalties,
storage charges or any other expenses set out in this article
- 6.4 We will endeavor to expedite all custom clearance formalities for your shipment
but are not liable for any delays, losses or damage caused by interference from
customs officers or other government authorities
- 7. EXTENT OF OUR LIABILITY
Subject to condition 13 below we limit our liability for any loss, damage or delay of your
shipment or any part of it as follows;
a) Carriage by air
If the carriage of your shipment is solely or partly by air and involves an ultimate
destination or a stop in a country other than the country of departure the Warsaw
Convention (1929), or the Warsaw Convention as amended by the Hague Protocol (1955)
and/or Montreal Convention (1999) , whichever is compulsory applicable will apply.
These international treaties govern and limit our liability for loss, damage or delay to
your shipment to 17 special drawing rights per kilo (approximately 20 Euros per kilo
although the rate of exchange is variable)
b) Carriage by road
If we carry your shipment by road within, to or from a country that is a party to the
convention on the contract for the international carriage of goods by road 1956 (CMR) our
liability for loss or damage to your shipment shall be governed by the CMR and thus limited
to 8.33 special drawing rights per kilo (approximately 10 Euro per kilo although the rate of
exchange is variable) In the case of delay where you can show to us you have suffered loss our liability is
limited to refunding to you the charge you paid us for carriage in respect of that shipment or
the part which was delayed.
c) If we have a liability to you for whatever reason including without limitation
breach of contract, negligence, wilful act or default
a. None of the conventions referred to above under 12 a) or b) apply compulsory, or,
b. Such liability is not government by any of the above mentioned conventions pursuant to
12 a) or b) above nor any other law or convention which applies compulsorily, or,,
c.It relates to any services not being carriage by road or air, our liabilities to you is at all
times limited to the actual cost incurred by you to acquire or repair the shipment or the part
affected with in every case an upper limited that does not exceed 17 Euro per kilo with a
maximum of 10,000 Euros per shipment. In the case of delay where you can show to us you
have suffered loss our liability is limited to refunding to you the charge you paid us for
carriage in respect of that shipment or the part which was delayed.
- 8. EXCLUSIONS
- 8.1 We will not be liable for any loss of income, loss of profit, loss of market, loss of
reputation, loss of customers, loss of use, loss of opportunity or for any indirect,
incidental, special or consequential damages or loss howsoever arising including but not
limited to the loss, damage, delay, mis-delivery or non-delivery of your shipment even if
we had knowledge that such damage or loss might arise
- 8.2 We are not liable if your shipment or any part of it is lost, damaged or not delivered or if
we do not fulfil any obligation towards you at all as a result of
- a) Circumstances beyond tour control such as (but not limited to):
- Acts of god including earthquakes, cyclones, storms, flooding, fire, disease, fog,snow and frost
- Force majeure including ( including not limited to) war, accidents, acts of public enemies, strikes, embargoes, perils of the air, local disputes or civil commotions;
- National or local disruptions in air or ground transportations networks and mechanical problems to modes of transport or machinery;
- Latent defects or inherent vice in the contents of the shipment
- Criminal acts of third parties such as theft and arson
- b) Your acts or omission or those of third parties such as:
- You being in breach of (or any other party claiming an interest in the shipment causing you to breach) your obligation under these terms and conditions and in particular those warranties set out in conditions
- An act or omission of any customs, airline, airport or government official
- c) The contents of the shipment consisting of any article that is a prohibited item even though we may have accepted the shipment by mistake
- 8.3 We are not a common carrier and do not accept from you any liabilities of a common carrier. Under normal circumstances we do not accept shipments sent to and from residential addresses.
- 9. INSURANCE
- 9.1 Due to the risk of loss or damage to the contents of a shipment, we advise you to
purchase insurance cover, which we will be pleased to arrange for you through our
broker. The cover available will be for the full value of the contents of your package(s).
You may obtain a quotation by contacting your local customer service department and
requesting full insurance cover. The insurance policy we have arranged with the broker,
covers against all risks of loss or damage (new good) during carriage
- 9.2 You may purchase insurance from us for the reconstruction, reproducing, reissuing or re
printing cost (including the cost of the materials (e.g. paper) plus reasonable labor cost)
of your document shipment by completing the relevant box on the consignment note and
paying the indicated charge to cover you against 'all risk' of loss and damage during
carriage up to maximum of 500 Euros per shipment. This insurance is only available for
documents which are listed on the website of the subsidiary or affiliate or branch
Mercury that accepts your shipment for carriage
- 9.3 The above insurance options (9.1 and 9.2) (I) do not cover loses of the consequential
nature (see condition 8.1 and above) or delays in carriage or where the loss has risen as
a result of your breach of your obligation under these terms and conditions and (ii) are
not available for a limited number of countries. For a list of these countries, and/or to
obtain further details on the insurance conditions and coverage, please contact our
customer service center or visit the website of the subsidiary or affiliate or branch of
Mercury that accepts your shipment for carriage
- 10. CLAIMS BROUGHT BY THIRD PARTIES
You undertake to us that you shall not permit any other person who has an interest in the
shipment to bring a claim or action against us arising from the carriage even though we
may have been negligent or in default and if a claim or action is made you will indemnity
us against the consequences of the claim or action and the cost and expenses we incur in
defending it
- 11. CLAIM PROCEDURE
If you wish to claim for a lost, damaged or delayed shipment you must comply with any
applicable convention or if none applies you must comply with the following procedure
otherwise we reserve the right to reject your claim
- a) You must notify us in writing about the loss, damage or delay within 21 days after delivery or
within 21 days of the date the shipment should have been delivered and then within the next
21 days you must document your claim by sending us all the relevant information about the
shipment and the loss, damage or delayed suffered. We are not obliged to act on any claim
until our carriage charges have been charge nor are you entitled to deduct the amount of your
claim from our carriage charges
- b) We must assume the shipment was delivered in good conditions unless the receiver has noted
any damage on our delivery record when he or she accepted the shipment. In order for us to
consider a claim for damage the contents of your shipment and the original packaging must
be must available to us for inspection
- c) Save as otherwise provided by any applicable convention and or law your right claim damages
against us shall be extinguished unless an action is brought in a court of law within 1 year
from the date of delivery of the shipment or from the date on which the shipment should have
been delivered or from the date on which the carriage ended
- 12. RATES AND PAYMENT
- 12.1 You agree to pay our charges for the carriage of the shipment between the locations
specified on the consignment note/contract of carriage and any value added taxes for the
carriage within 7 days from the date of our invoice. You waive all your rights to
challenge our invoices if you do not contest our invoice in writing within 7 days from the
date of the invoice. Our carriage charges are calculated in accordance with the rates
applicable to your shipment as set out in our current rate card. We may check the weight
and/or volume of your shipment and if we find that there is a discrepancy between your
declared weight and / or volume your agree that
the weight and/or volume you agree that the weight and/or volume that we determine
may be used for the purpose of our calculation. As a matter of course all import duties,
value added taxes on goods and all other charges levied on the shipment in the
destination country shall be payable to us by the receiver upon delivery of the shipment
and if the receiver refuses to pay you agree to pay us these amounts in full within 7 days
of us notifying you that the receiver has not paid. You agree that we may charge interest
on all invoices not paid within 7 days from the invoice date at the rate of 6% above the
European Central Bank base rate. You agree to pay our reasonable and proper cost of
collection of invoices not paid within 7 days from the invoice date
- 13. LAW AND JURIIDICTION
- 13.1 In the event that any term or condition is declared invalid or unenforceable such a
determination shall not affect the other provision of this contract of carriage all of which
remain in force
- 13.2 Dispute arising from or related to this contract of carriage shall be subject to the laws and
the courts of the country in which the subsidiary or affiliate or branch of Mercury that
accepts your shipment for carriage is based
