The purpose of taking a Marine Insurance Policy is to cover
the goods whilst they are moved from one to place to another. The coverage is governed by the clauses
attached to the Policy and in India
Besides the basic perils, there is ‘Theft,
Pilferage and Non-delivery’ attached specifically to policies extending
coverage.
In legal parlance, Non-delivery, is failure to convey or transfer
a legal instrument or goods as required by law or custom. The coverage offered under Marine Policy is
primarily one providing indemnity when
the consignment in its entirety is not delivered at destination by the Carrier
to whom the goods were entrusted.
When the coverage is only for basic [listed perils]
extended to cover TPND [Theft, Pilferage, Non delivery] – short delivery or
shortage of contents in a package where package itself is delivered will be
outside the purview of coverage. There have been varied interpretations
depending the nature and circumstances of non-delivery and Courts have held
that where the goods are not delivered by the Carrier because the vessel was
arrested would not be construed as non-delivery. Also a mis-delivery where goods are delivered
by the contracted Carrier to a wrong party on production of bill of lading is
construed outside the purview of this coverage.
However with this ‘TPND’ clause incorporated also, the
policy is not to provide wholesome coverage against ‘any loss of package
arising out of whatsoever cause’. Some
simplest of examples of ‘non delivery’ still not within the purview of
coverage could be – seizure by Public
authority, package jettisoned by the carrier [when the coverage is on
restricted terms], misdelivery especially on production of documents,
consignment taken to wrong destination by a carrier …….
The cargo owner knows the value of their goods – it is not
only the inherent value, the commercial value, or the Invoice value of the
goods – also there is the potential profits that would be realized upon sale of
goods at destination, the loss of market, market share, potential good will and
other issues – hence generally, cargo owner would not like a loss to happen,
even when they are fully protected by insurance. Still, you often come across instances of
‘high value cargo’ entrusted to literally unknown operators / carriers and
often even basic check of vehicle / driver records are not carried out.
There have been instances where the carrier or the lorry
driver ran away with the high value cargo, thus causing a huge loss to the
cargo owner. The risks is more when the
cargo carried is one of high commercial value and which is an item sought after
by the market consumer. Thus a
sophisticated machinery is lesser risk than that of white goods. A consignment of cigarettes which can be sold
in black market is potential bad risk.
The New Indian Express, Chennai reports of an interesting case where the
driver escaped with a fully loaded van worth 14 lakhs of goods.
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The newspaper article states that ‘Irked over his employer
not paying his salary, a 32-year-old driver escaped with a van loaded with
TASMAC liquor worth Rs 14 lakh from its godown at Ambattur Industrial Estate. Hours after he threw a party to his friends
with the stolen liquor in his hometown in Tiruvannamalai district and much
before he could sell the rest of goods and vehicle to make easy money, he
landed in police net.
photo and news from the New Indian Express - Chennai Edition
Police said they arrested L Baskar of Lourdh Madha Street,
Sembiumpakkam, Polur Taluk in Tiruvannamalai district for allegedly escaping in
a van with TASMAC liquor after tracing his cellphone signal. Baskar had worked
for a person called T Vijaya Vasudevan (32) of Senthil Nagar, Kolathur, who had
a contract to supply liquor from the TASMAC godown at Ambattur Industrial
Estate to shops in and around Chennai, for the past one month. Police sources
said Baskar claimed that he stole the vehicle with the liquor as he was upset
with his employer for deducting his salary to compensate the expenses incurred
on the van after it was damaged when it met with an accident 10 days back. On Saturday, Baskar had taken the liquor from
the godown and had supplied them to shops at Thirumangalam, Anna Nagar. He had
later gone to a outlet at Koyambedu to supply liquor but had to return to the
godown as he had reached the shop past closing time. After reaching Ambattur,
Baskar parked the van in front of the godown as he could leave the rest of the
goods back since it was already billed’…
So a case of non-delivery of consignment – the entire truck
load missing after entrustment to a Carrier………
Totally unconnected to this : Nondelivery report : In the Internet's standard e-mail protocol
SMTP, a bounce message, also called a Non-Delivery Report/Receipt (NDR), a
(failed) Delivery Status Notification (DSN) message, a Non-Delivery
Notification (NDN) or simply a bounce, is an automated electronic mail message
from a mail system informing the sender of another message about a delivery
problem. The original message is said to have bounced without deliverance to
the recipient.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar .
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