There have been several cases of shortage claims on ships discharging bulk cargo in Moroccan ports.
On discharge the cargo is either stored in silos in the port area, or given direct clearance from the port. In all cases the cargo is only weighed on its clearance from the port, while crossing the weighbridge. The result of this weighing is considered as the official delivery weight to the receivers and therefore determines possible short landed quantities.
These losses at the quay are often attributable to the tightness of the grabs during discharge, the overloading of the means of cargo receiving equipment i.e. lorries or trucks, and defects in the weighbridge.
As the courts do not accept a delivered quantity, but only the weight determined by the port weighbridge scales, these losses at the quay subsequent to discharge are often the subject of claims addressed to the carrier, even though he is not responsible.
Despite of the application of Hamburg Rules in Morocco since 01/11/92, the majority of the claims that do not exceed 2% of the b/l quantity have been rejected on the basis of trade allowance (Article 461 of the Moroccan Code of Commerce, applicable to shore transport). This exoneration of the sea carrier from any liability due to trade allowance is recently becoming more contested. The cargo interests are arguing that the sea carrier should prove that the shortages are exclusively attributable to the nature of the cargo in order to invoke the trade allowance and estimate that the trade allowance should not exceed 0.5% of the b/l quantity.
The following steps are recommended: