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Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Other commercial matters - Carriage of goods - Kinds of contract of carriage and effect on liability of parties

248: Liability depends on kind of contract of carriage

You could also call this:

“Different shipping agreements decide how much the carrier pays if your things get lost or damaged”

When you send something using a carrier, there are different types of agreements you can make. These agreements decide how much the carrier is responsible if your things get lost or damaged.

There are four types of agreements:

  1. Owner’s risk: The carrier is not responsible if your things get lost or damaged, unless they do it on purpose.

  2. Declared value risk: You tell the carrier how much your things are worth. If they get lost or damaged, the carrier will pay you up to that amount.

  3. Declared terms: You and the carrier agree on specific rules about what happens if your things get lost or damaged.

  4. Limited carrier’s risk: The carrier is responsible for lost or damaged things, but there’s a limit to how much they will pay you.

The type of agreement you choose affects how much the carrier has to pay if something goes wrong. For example, if you choose owner’s risk, the carrier won’t have to pay anything unless they damage your things on purpose. But if you choose declared value risk, they might have to pay up to the amount you said your things were worth.

There are special rules that explain more about how much carriers have to pay for declared value risk and limited carrier’s risk agreements. One important rule puts a limit on how much carriers have to pay, even if your things are worth more than that limit.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844546.

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Part 5 Other commercial matters
Carriage of goods: Kinds of contract of carriage and effect on liability of parties

248Liability depends on kind of contract of carriage

  1. For the purposes of this subpart, each contract of carriage is one of the following kinds, as determined by section 249:

  2. a contract for carriage at owner’s risk:
    1. a contract for carriage at declared value risk:
      1. a contract for carriage on declared terms:
        1. a contract for carriage at limited carrier’s risk.

          1. The liability of a carrier for loss or damage to goods under a contract of carriage is determined by the kind of contract as follows:

          2. under a contract for carriage at owner’s risk, the carrier is not liable for the loss of or damage to any goods, except where the loss or damage is intentionally caused by the carrier:
            1. under a contract for carriage at declared value risk, the carrier is liable for the loss of or damage to any goods up to an amount specified in the contract and otherwise in accordance with sections 256 to 260:
              1. under a contract for carriage on declared terms, the carrier is liable for the loss of or damage to any goods in accordance with the specific terms of the contract:
                1. under a contract for carriage at limited carrier’s risk, the carrier is liable for the loss of or damage to any goods in accordance with sections 256 to 260.

                  1. See, in particular, section 259 (which caps the liability of carriers under contracts for carriage at a limited carrier’s risk and at declared value risk).

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