General Terms and Conditions for the Provision of Forwarding and Custom Brokerage Services
Abir - International Forwarding Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the “Company” or “Abir”) provides international shipment, custom brokerage and logistic services based on approved quotes and/or orders (the “Services”). All Services provided by the Company and its engagement with its Customers to provide Services are subject to the specific terms and conditions prescribed in the approved quote/order, and to the following General Terms, constituting an integral part of the engagement contract with the Customer. By approving the General Terms and/or ordering Services and/or handing over a shipment to the Company case the Customer and/or anyone on its behalf consents to the General Terms. The General Terms will apply to the Customer also towards subcontractors and agents on Abir’s behalf.
Definitions
1. In these General Terms, the following terms shall have the meaning indicated next to them:
“Customer” - the party ordering Services and/or shipper and/or consignee of the shipment and/or anyone on their behalf.
“Forbidden Goods” - goods, the transport of which is prohibited by law, enactment or regulation in any country to which or through which the goods are shipped.
“Dangerous Goods” - goods defined as dangerous by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Air Transport Association (IATA), The International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG), the Accord Dangereux Routier (ADR) or the provisions of any other law.
Undertakings of Parties
2. Abir serves as coordinating forwarding agent only among the various parties involved in the goods' shipment. Accordingly, the Company is not responsible for the shipment duration or cargo arrival date at its destination, or damage and/or loss caused to the cargo for any reason when the cargo is outside the actual physical possession of the Company in every shipment stage.
3. The Customer undertakes to notify the Company in writing of any case of damage and/or demand for damage within 7 days from the date the Customer learned of it and/or from receiving the goods to its physical or constructive possession. Failure to issue such notice would be considered the Customer’s waiver and the Company will not be liable towards the Customer in such an event.
4. The Customer is responsible to pack the shipment and to comply with all legal import/export requirements under any applicable law with respect to the shipment in the export and/or import country and/or the country through which the shipment passes, as the matter may be, including labeling the shipment, and to furnish all import/export approvals and/or licenses required with respect to the Customer’s shipment.
5. The Customer undertakes to deliver to Abir a true and complete description of the shipment, including shipment value, content, quantity, weight, dimensions, volume, characteristics, properties, special manufacturer instructions, if any, and whether the goods are Dangerous Goods or Forbidden Goods. It is hereby clarified that Abir’s quote is an estimated assessment of cost according to the cargo properties as provided by the Customer; in case of discrepancy between the cargo dimensions as delivered by the Customer and its actual dimensions - the Customer will be required to bear additional payment according to the actual cargo dimensions and properties.
6. The Customer is aware that providing wrong and/or false and/or partial information may lead to commencement of proceedings, including criminal proceedings, by the state authorities.
7. In any case, the Company is not responsible for damage suffered by the Customer and/or any third party by reason of any property of the cargo not known to the Company and which cannot be noticed from Customer’s cargo description or not notified by the Customer in writing, in advance. In such an event, the Customer has sole and absolute liability and the Customer undertakes to indemnify the Company for every demand and/or claim directed at the Company in this regard.
8. Where a consignee abroad refused to bear payment for any reason for cargo shipment sent on account of such consignee at the Customer’s request, the Customer will bear the full costs arising from such shipment.
9. Delay fee and/or storage fee applicable to a shipment that was not cleared and/or returned in time by the Customer and/or anyone on its behalf and/or the consignee and/or anyone on its behalf will apply to the Customer, except where the delay resulted from an act or omission of Abir.
10. Any and all fees, levies, expenses, not expressly included in the quote and/or not known on the quote delivery date and/or caused by the conduct of the Customer and/or anyone on its behalf will be added to the price agreed in the quote and paid by the Customer on Abir’s first written demand, together with proof of additional debits charged.
11. In import cargo the Customer undertakes to return the shipping container used to ship the cargo to the shipping company empty, intact and clean, within the free time.
12. If the cargo shipped in a container was not cleared from custom supervision within reasonable time for reasons unrelated to Abir, Abir may transfer a container to a cargo terminal and unstuff it there, and the Customer will bear all costs involved without prior notice.
13. Calculation of volume/weight ratio for assessment of shipment costs follows:
a) Aeriel shipment - 1:6
b) Maritime shipment - 1 ton: 1 cubic meters
c) Land shipment - 1:3
Exemptions
14. Without derogating from the above, it is made clear that the Company will not be held liable for damage in the following incidents:
a) Special, incidental, consequential or indirect loss or damage including alternative shipment means costs, loss of income, loss of use of profit, anticipated savings, loss of reputation or opportunity;
b) The Customer assumes all exposures and risks by reason of and/or with respect to any loss, damage or delay, beyond those expressly imposed on Abir in these Terms.
c) If the Customer seeks insurance the Customer must independently procure insurance cover.
15. Abir will not be held liable to make any adjustment, refund or credit of any kind for any loss, damage, delay, wrong delivery, no delivery, false information or no information, caused or arising from each of the following (without limitation):
a) An act or omission of the Customer or any other stakeholder of the shipment;
b) The nature of the shipment or any defect, property, inherent defect or fragility;
c) Breach of these Terms, or other terms and conditions that apply to the shipment, including delivery of a forbidden item, hazardous substances, misrepresentation of the cargo, security, labeling or addresses of shipment;
d) Violation of laws and/or regulations, export contract or sanctions imposed by the United States or any other relevant party;
e) Fines, penalties or other sums of money sued from the Customer or from another relevant party by a regulatory authority or third party;
f) Any event outside Abir’s control, including pandemic or epidemic, aerial hazards, public enemies, public or regulatory authorities acting by virtue of actual or apparent power, acts or omissions of custom agents, riots, strikes or anticipated strikes or other local conflicts, civil riots, dangers arising from a state of war or weather conditions, or national, international or local termination of operation of aerial, maritime or land shipment companies, criminal acts of any person or entity including act of terror, natural disasters, any defect or interruption in communication or information systems;
g) Improper or insufficient packaging, including the Customer's failure to use packaging approved by Abir when such approval is required or recommended. It is hereby clarified that by delivery of packaging materials, advice, assistance or guidance of the proper packages for shipment Abir assumes no liability, unless expressly agreed in writing;
h) Compliance with oral or written delivery instructions by the Customer or individuals pretending to represent the Customer;
i) Delivery delay caused by reason of the Customer’s violation of the Company’s terms of payment;
j) Data deletion, loss or inability to restore data stored on magnetic tapes, files, or other storage measures;
k) Abir’s default or delay in notice to the Customer of delay, loss or damage of a shipment, insufficient, wrong or inaccurate address of addressee or custom agent, wrong, incomplete or lacking documentation or default to pay tariffs and taxes required to clear the shipment;
Disclaimer and Prescription Period
16. The Company’s liability in each stage of the shipment is limited according to the lowest limitation of liability conditions that apply to maritime or aerial shippers according to the relevant convention or bill of lading, whether issued by the Company or by the shipper (aerial / maritime / land).
17. In addition, the prescription period for submitting a claim against the Company is one year at most, or any shorter period prescribed in the bill of lading and/or relevant convention and/or law; in any case, the Company’s liability towards the Customer herein and/or with respect to all Services provided will not exceed a sum of US$ 1,500.
Right of Lien
18. The Company may have the right of lien for the purpose of repayment of the Customer’s debts to the Company without prior notice on any type of cargo and/or shipment and/or property and/or asset and/or right of and/or intended to the Customer (the “Cargo”) coming to the Company hands in order to guarantee any payments owing from the Customer, including payments for prior shipments or other transactions, even if they are not the subject of the withheld Cargo. The Company may sell the withheld Cargo for repayment of the Customer debts towards the Company and the Customer hereby waives in advance any right or argument in this matter.
No Set-Off Right
19. Payments which the Customer must pay the Company for Services provided or to which the Company is entitled under any applicable law may not be set off or any similar action by the Customer for any reason, notwithstanding the provisions of any applicable law.
Payment Terms
20. The Customer will pay for the Services upon receipt of invoice and before performing the Services and/or delivery of the shipment to the addressee, unless agreed otherwise with the Company in a separate agreement.
Conversion Rate
21. Cost assessment and/or shipment quote will be based on the following conversion rates:
a) Currency conversion rate in maritime shipment will be determined by the sale rate of Bank Leumi “High Remittance and Checks” together with 4% (the “Exchange Rate”), unless agreed or indicated otherwise.
b) Currency conversion rate in aerial shipment will be determined by the sale rate of Bank Leumi “High Remittance and Checks” (the “Exchange Rate”), unless agreed or indicated otherwise.
22. Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 22, the effective Exchange Rate will be the Exchange Rate on the invoice issuance date, but where the Exchange Rate has increased by more than 3% between the invoice issuance date and the actual payment date the Customer will pay the Company the rate differences according to the rate on the actual payment date.
Jurisdiction Clause
23. The Courts and/or Debt Execution Office of the City of Tel Aviv - Yafo, according to their subject-matter jurisdiction, will have exclusive local jurisdiction to resolve any matter related to the Services provided by the Company (no other court will have local jurisdiction), for the avoidance of doubt - according to Israeli law.
Miscellaneous
24. Abir does not serve an authorized representative for court documents receipt or an address of any kind for court documents service for any other company except Abir - International Forwarding Ltd., private company no. 511302846.
25. The Customer will be responsible and agrees to indemnify Abir against any third party liability caused to Abir or a third party by the shipment or due to any third party claim. No payment made by Abir by reason of a claim of the Customer or a third party will be considered admission to liability or waiver on these Terms of engagement.
26. The General Terms will apply to every shipment of the Customer and constitute a binding agreement between Abir and the Customer. If the Customer wishes to rely on any change to these Terms he must make sure every change is written and executed by the Customer and Abir by an authorized representative of Abir, prior to Abir accepting the shipment.
27. To the extent it is held that any term or condition herein is invalid, such determination may not affect the other terms and conditions and they will be binding in every respect.
Notwithstanding the above, terms prescribed in an orderly written quote or credit agreement supersede the provisions herein, to the extent they contradict.