In this Bill of Lading, the terms:
‘Bill of Lading’ means the present document whether called Bill of Lading, paperless Bill of Lading, electronic Bill of Lading and/or waybill.
‘Carriage’ means the whole or any part of the operations and services undertaken by the Carrier in respect of the Goods covered by this Bill of Lading.
‘Carrier’ means the party on whose behalf this Bill of Lading has been signed and/or issued.
‘Combined Transport’ arises if the Place of Receipt and/or the Place of Delivery are indicated overleaf in the relevant spaces. Combined Transport consists of Port-to-Port carriage and Inland Transport.
‘Container’ means any container used for the transport of Goods (including, without limitation, any dry storage container, flat rack container, open top container, tunnel container, open side storage container, double doors container, refrigerated container, super freezer container, controlled-atmosphere container, insulated or thermal container, foldable container, half-height container, car carrier container, intermediate bulk shift container, swap bodies, special purpose container, or any combination of the foregoing examples), trailer, transportable tank, ISO tank, drums, flat or pallet or any similar article used to consolidate goods and any ancillary equipment. Unless a provision in this Bill of Lading expressly refers only to a specific type of Container, the defined term “Container” shall be given its full meaning wherever it appears in this Bill of Lading, notwithstanding that certain provisions in this Bill of Lading may contain words that are more generally or commonly understood in relation to a specific type of Container
‘Freight’ means all charges payable to the Carrier in accordance with the Carrier’s applicable Tariff and under this Bill of Lading.
‘Goods’ means the whole or any part of the cargo accepted from the shipper and includes any Container not supplied by or on behalf of the Carrier.
‘Hague Rules’ means the provisions of the International Convention for the Unification of certain rules relating to Bills of Lading signed at Brussels on 25th August 1924 and includes the amendments by the protocol signed at Brussels on 23rd February 1968 and 1979, but only if such amendments (hereinafter collectively called “the Visby Amendments”) are compulsorily applicable to this Bill of Lading. It is expressly provided that nothing in this Bill of Lading shall be construed as contractually applying the said Visby Amendments.
‘Holder’ means any Person for the time being lawfully in possession of this Bill of Lading or in whom rights of suit and/or liability under this Bill of Lading have been transferred or vested.
‘Inland Transport’ means carriage during Combined Transport, including but not limited to road, rail and water transport, other than the Port-to-Port segment.
‘Merchant’ means any Person who at any time has been or becomes the shipper, Holder, consignee, the receiver of the Goods, any Person owning or entitled to the possession of the Goods or this Bill of Lading and any Person acting on behalf of any such Person.
‘NVOCC’ means Non-Vessel Operating Common Carrier.
‘Person’ includes an individual, company, group or other entity.
“Place of Delivery” means any port or place so named overleaf.
“Place of Receipt” means any port or place so named overleaf.
‘Port of Discharge’ means any port so named overleaf.
‘Port of Loading’ means any port so named overleaf.
‘Port-to-Port’ means carriage between the Port of Loading and Port of Discharge.
‘Subcontractor’ means any party and/or Person to which the Carrier subcontracts the whole or any part of this Carriage, including but not limited to owners and operators of any vessels (other than the Carrier), stevedores, warehousemen, container terminal or depot operators, road, rail and air transport operators and any independent contractor employed by the Carrier in the performance of the Carriage or any part thereof and any of their sub-contractors, agents and servants.
‘Tariff’ means the charges payable to the Carrier which includes but is not limited to the following charges: storage charges, detention, demurrage, terminal handling charges, seal fees, bill of lading fees for any issuance, amendment, re-issuance, telex release fees, reefer power charges, late payment fees, booking cancellation/postponement fees, delivery order fees, container cleaning charges and miscellaneous charges (e.g. charges for misdeclaration of dangerous goods, misdeclaration of cargo weight).
‘US COGSA’ means the United States Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 46 U.S.C. App. § 1300 et seq. as enacted 1936 and any subsequent recodification thereto.
“Verified Gross Mass” means the combined mass of a Container’s tare mass and the masses of all packages and cargo items including but not limited to pallets, dunnage, other packing material and securing materials packed in the Container and verified by one of the methods of weighing specified in SOLAS Chapter VI Regulation 2.
‘Vessel’ means any waterborne craft or barge used in the Carriage under this Bill of Lading, which may be a feeder vessel or an ocean vessel.