Bazeline Groupage Shipping Services

 

1) DEFINITION OF TERMS:

“we", "us" and "our" means subsidiaries, affiliates of BGSS Shipping Services & its holding company. (BGSS)  and their respective employees, agents and independent contractors; "you", "your" ,"I/we", "my/our", "I am/we are", "me/us" and "your" means the sender, consignor or consignee of the shipment, holder of this consignment note, receiver and owner of the contents of the shipment or any other party having a legal interest in those contents; "carriage" means and includes the whole of the operations and services undertaken by us in connection with the shipment; "shipment" means any envelope, document, package, parcel, satchel or piece of freight given to and accepted by us for carriage and transported under our consignment note. "prohibited items" means any goods or materials the carriage of which is prohibited by any law, rule or regulation of any country in which the shipment travels.                            

 

We shall endeavour to the best of our ability to ensure adequate protection of our customers goods at all times in accordance with the high standard of service we promise to deliver.                                              

 

By shipping with Bazeline Groupage Shipping Services hereinafter referred to as BGSS, I/we attest to be bound by the full terms & conditions as stated herein & on BGSS website.

 

2) [DECLARATION OF CONSENT] I/we can confirm in the course of this shipment that;                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

2.1) ==> UK/Nigerian Custom officials may open my/our goods during container inspection/examination & BGSS is not liable for any damage/loss resulting from it.             

                                                                       

2.2) ==> BGSS is authorised to act on my/our behalf as freight forwarders and clearing agents at the port of discharge.   

                                                                                                                                                     

 2.3} ==> I am/we are the owner of the goods being shipped in which contents were duly packed by me/us and not a third party. 

                                                                                                                                           

2.4) ==> I am/we are aware that my/our goods will be subjected to 3rd party manual handling by Customs or their contractors and BGSS will not be liable for any damage/loss resulting from it.               

 

2.5) ==> I/we have read and understood the full BGSS terms and conditions & confirm to be fully bound by it as I/we sign to give my/our consent below.

 

 

 

3) ACCEPTANCE OF OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS

 

By giving us your shipment you accept our terms and conditions set out in the consignment note and or the contract of carriage on behalf of yourself and/or anyone else who has an interest in the shipment irrespective of whether you have signed the front of our invoice/contract note or not. Our terms and conditions also cover and can be invoked by anyone we use or sub-contract to collect, transport or deliver your shipment as well as our employees, directors and agents. Only one of our authorised officers may agree to a variation of these terms and conditions in writing. When you give us the shipment with oral or written instructions that conflict with our terms and conditions we shall not be bound by such instructions. 

 

4) CONTRACTING PARTIES

 

Your contract of carriage is with the BGSS Shipping Service or the holding company or its subsidiary or affiliate companies that accepts the shipment for carriage from you. You agree that we may subcontract the whole or any part of the carriage on any 3rd party’s terms and conditions we deem fit. 

 

5) LOADING TIME

 

BGSS reserve the right to move the loading date forward or backward without prior notice to the customer. We may give a tentative loading date but this is subject to our readiness to load & in a manner that is suitable to our operational guidelines. Customers can retrieve their baggage at the payment of our £50 admin fee if they feel they are unable to wait until our newly adopted loading date.

 

6) DURATION & SHIPPING TIME

 

Shipping service is subject to other complimentary third party services which we have no control over such as (shipping company policy T&C, Nigerian Customs service policy T&C, clearing logistics, warehousing procedures etc). In the light of this, we are unable to guarantee the exact duration of each shipment but we will endeavour to deliver within the shortest possible time minimum of 5 weeks from the sailing date. As stated in the shipping company’s T&C, shipping companies reserves the right to delay, extend or cancel the sailing of any pre-booked ship without prior notice to customers and in the event of any of these happening, the duration of shipment may be longer than usual (5 weeks) and BGSS will not to be held liable for such delay. Against this backdrop, we strongly advice against pre-booking of {flight/air ticket purchase, work holiday or any future event(s)} around your shipment as this may not always work according to plan. Please allow plenty time before shipping through us to avoid any unforeseen circumstances.

 

 

7) DECLARATION OF CONTENT

 

You must give us a full description of the contents of the shipment on the consignment note and your responsibilities and liabilities are not extinguished by providing this information. Shipments carried by us may be subject to security screening which could include the use of X-ray equipment and you accept that your shipment may be opened and the contents of your shipment may be examined in transit. Only declared items can be considered in terms of permanent loss of baggage subject to our terms and conditions covering loss of baggage. We are not responsible for any item(s) mentioned afterwards that was not initially declared to us on our invoice prior to shipment.

 

8) CARRIAGE BY AIR FREIGHT

 

 a) Customers must ensure and certify while completing our consignment note or tendering a shipment to us that their shipment does not contain any prohibited article as specified in ICAO Annex 17 or other national or international regulations that govern shipping/aviation security. You must give us a full description of the contents of the shipment on the consignment note and your responsibilities and liabilities are not extinguished by providing this information. Shipments carried by us may be subject to security screening which could include the use of X-ray equipment and you accept that your shipment may be opened and the contents of your shipment may be examined in transit. 

 

b) You declare that you have prepared the shipment for carriage in secure premises using reliable staff employed by you or by yourself and that the shipment has been safeguarded against unauthorised interference during preparation, storage and transportation immediately prior to acceptance for carriage of the shipment by us. 

 

9) DELAYED/NON PAYMENT OF INVOICED AMOUNT

 

Shipment is only guaranteed upon payment in full of our invoiced amount on receipt of the invoice. Where this is not the case, BGSS will not load the goods on board for shipment and this will henceforth incur additional charges. Goods not shipped as a result of non-payment of fees should be collected by the customer within 24 hours of notification after payment of a one-off fee of £50 administration fee. Such notification can be in writing, telephone voice communication, sms message, black berry messenger, email or whatsApp services whichever is handy at that time. Failure of the customer to comply with this directive will in addition to our administration fee pay a further surcharge of £5 warehousing fee for any additional week until the good(s) are taken by the customer. If the accumulated fee is not received after 21 days from the date of default, BGSS reserve the right to auction the goods to recover its fee without further notice to the customer. However, if the customer decides to leave the good(s) within our care until our next shipment, full payment of the invoiced amount and the accumulated penalty charges must be paid to avoid further charges . Loading of such goods will be subject to whenever our next batch of shipment is planned to take place.   

 

 

10) CUSTOMS CLEARANCE/OPERATIONS UK/NIG

 

10.1 You hereby appoint us as your agent solely for the purpose of clearing and entering the shipment through customs and you hereby certify that we are the consignee for the purpose of designating a customs broker to perform customs clearances and entries if we subcontract this work. If any customs authority requires additional documentation for the purpose of confirming the import/export declaration or our customs clearance status, it is your responsibility to provide the required documentation at your expense. 

10.2 You certify that all statements and information you provide relating to the exportation and importation of the shipment are true and correct. You acknowledge that in the event that you make untrue or fraudulent statements about the shipment or any of its contents you risk a civil claim and/or criminal prosecution the penalties for which include forfeiture and sale of your shipment to the extent that we may voluntarily assist you in completing the required customs and other formalities. Such assistance will be rendered at your sole risk & cost. You agree to indemnify us and hold us harmless from any claims that may be brought against us arising from the information you provide to us and any costs we will incur regarding this and pay any administration fee we may charge you for providing the services described in this article. 

10.3 Any customs duties, taxes, penalties, storage charges or other expenses we incur as a result of the actions of customs or other governmental authorities or your failure and/or the receiver's failure to provide proper documentation and/or to obtain the required licence or permit will be charged to you or the receiver of the shipment. In the event that we decide to charge the receiver and the receiver refuses to pay the incurred charges you agree to pay them to us together with our fee for the administration involved as well as any extra costs we will incur. Upon our first request you will provide a proper guarantee for any of the duties, taxes, penalties, storage charges or any other expenses set out in this article. 

10.4 We will endeavour to expedite all customs clearance formalities for your shipment but are not liable for any delays, losses or damage caused by interference from customs officers or other governmental authorities. 

 

 

11) PROHIBITED/CONTRABAND ITEMS

 

We do not accept the carriage of prohibited items. The Nigerian customs service list of contraband/prohibited items can be found on their website (http://www.customs.gov.ng). This list is amended from time to time and you are advised to refer to it prior to your shipment to ensure that you are acting within the law. Customers are liable for any customs penalty charge incurred as a result of discovery of prohibited item(s) within their baggage. Such penalty notice shall be paid in full by the customer before collecting their goods but in the case where the value of the prohibited item(s) is less than the penalty levied upon it and where the customer forfeits the collection of such item, BGSS reserves the right to take any action deemed necessary to recover its fees including but not limited to legal action and/or confiscation and/or auction of the items etc. However, in situations where there is an exception to the number of such prohibited item to be accommodated within one batch of shipment, we may accept to grant you discretional carriage in which case a prohibited goods surcharge will still apply and invoiced to you upon acceptance of your shipment. 

 

 

12) BOGOUS/FRAUDULENT CLAIMS

 

Customers  declare the content of their goods on collection by us. This declaration must not in any way or form be changed by the customer in the future for personal gain or witch hunt. Where this is found to be the case, BGSS reserves the right to take any measures it deems fit to ascertain the truth which includes but not limited to;

 

a)     BGSS staff present either in the destination country (Nigeria) or in the UK should explain our procedure to the customer or his representative about what he sets out to do. BGSS staff should invite a Police officer, a certified Legal Practitioner or any other person in the position of authority as he deems fit and in the presence of the customer or his representative take stock of the items in dispute and where there is sufficient need to conduct further search on other items belonging to the customer in a bid to ascertain the truth, he should extend the same act of stock taking and the result shall be recorded and signed by all the parties present with the Police officer or someone in a position of authority signing as a witness.

 

b)     Where the customer refuses to abide by this recommendation, his goods shall be withheld and secured in our ware house at his own expense until he admits to the bogus claim or agree to the proposed stock taking.

 

c)     Where BGSS ascertains that the customer has in any way or form been dishonest in his dealings with us regarding the content and value of his shipment, the customer forfeits his right to pursue any further claim(s) regarding his damaged or lost goods.

 

13) DELIVERY/DISTRIBUTION

 

Customers pick-up their goods from our warehouse of which the address will be made available to them by the operations manager in charge. Where customers require inter/intra city door to door delivery service, extra fees may apply depending on the size & destination of goods. Upfront payment is required at all times before execution of any such additional services. We are not liable for any damage/loss resulting from this as a result of riot, theft/robbery, accident, or act of God.

 

14)FEES & PAYMENTS

 

All fees MUST be paid before service is rendered. At no time in the course of the business transaction will the fees paid be subject to refund in whole or in part to the customer or their subjects. Full payment is required at the point of collection of the consignment unless otherwise agreed. Where full payment is not received on collection, the customer has a window of one (1) calendar week to pay up or in the case where our loading date/time is less than a week away, it must be received in full before our loading date or it will not be guaranteed for shipment.

 

 

15) SPECIAL GOODS

We shall not be held liable for any of the goods categorised under our special goods list as they are excluded from compensation consideration. We will not pay compensation for such goods sent on any of our service whether received discretionarily or not.

 

15.1) LIST OF SPECIAL GOODS

Compensation for loss or damage TO:

Parcels strapped together or bound to another parcel. 

Any dangerous, hazardous and prohibited goods: Please visit Nigeria and UK website for proper update.

Fragile objects/goods such as auto mobile body parts including but not limited to doors, rear and headlights.

Ceramics or composites wholly or partially made of china and/or porcelain

Computer monitors, all sizes of television sets, musical sets, toys, laptops, all-in-one desktops, mobile phones, ipads, tablets and iMacs.

Furniture - flat packed and ready built

Glassware - items wholly or partially made of glass or containing glass, e.g bottles, picture frames, TV's and laptops that contain glass

Lighting - damage in transit or in handling of flourescent tubes, neon lighting, x-ray tubes, light bulbs or any other inherently fragile items

Marble or any stone derivatives
Perishable foodstuffs and articles
Edibles such as eggs, Cakes of all types etc
Please note that we do not accept perishable goods on our Air cargo and Sea Shipping services.

 

 

16) EXCEPTIONS

 

16.1 If something which we are not reasonably able to control, including but not limited to defects relating to Customs inpection, port operation that may delay us from doing something we are supposed to do under these Terms and Conditions, we will not be responsible for any loss which you may suffer.

 

We will endeavour to cover goods by way of insurance up to the limit stated herein hence will not be liable for any loss of income, loss of profits, loss of markets, loss of reputation, loss of customers, loss of use ,loss of an opportunity or for any indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages or loss howsoever arising including but not limited to the loss, damage, delay, misdelivery or non-delivery of your shipment even if we had knowledge that such damages or loss might arise. This includes, without limitation, direct loss or indirect loss of both tangible and intangible assets regardless of whether or not the loss was foreseeable, arose in the normal course of events or you have advised us of the possibility of such potential loss and indirect, consequential or incidental damages.

We do not however exclude an act of God such as liability for mishap in the course of transporting, delivering, storage/warehousing fire & theft, death or any personal injury caused by its negligence. The above exclusions and limitations apply only to the extent permitted by law. None of your statutory rights as a customer, consumer or employee that cannot be excluded or limited are affected.

 

16.2 We are not liable if your shipment or any part of it is lost, damaged, delayed or mis-delivered or not delivered or if we do not fulfil any obligations towards you at all as a result of: 

a) circumstances beyond our control such as (but not limited to): acts of god including earthquakes, cyclones, storms, flooding, fire, hurricane, disease, fog, snow or frost; 
force majeure including (but not limited to) war, accidents, acts of public enemies, strikes, embargoes, perils of the air, local disputes or civil commotions; 
national or local disruptions in air, sea or ground transportation networks and mechanical problems to modes of transport or machinery; 
latent defects or inherent vice in the contents of the shipment. criminal acts of third parties such as theft and arson. 

b) your acts or omissions or those of third parties such as: 
you being in breach of (or any other party claiming an interest in the shipment causing you to breach) your obligations under these terms and conditions; 
an act or omission of any customs, airline, airport or government official. 

c) The contents of the shipment consisting of any article that is a prohibited item even though we may have accepted the shipment in error. 

 

d) BGSS shall not be liable to compensate, refund, waive fees or make payment in lieu for any item of shipment and or consignment where any person or group of persons has been found to be fraudulent or dishonest in any way in respect of their disclosure of the contents of such consignment. In situation where this is deemed to have taken place, the customer looses his/her right to pursue such compensation for total loss or damage to goods in transit.

16.3 This piece is an extract from our full Terms & Conditions and acceptance of this binds you to our full T&C as held in full therefore claiming ignorant of it does not exonerate you from its stipulations. 

 

 

 

17. SCOPE OF THE CONTRACT 

a) Irrespective of whether a separate contract of carriage was agreed between you and us or the carriage of the shipment forms part of another type of contract between you and us, these terms and conditions apply to the contract agreed between you and us in respect of any carriage of goods pursuant to the contract. 

b) By concluding any type of contract with us you agree that: 

the contract is a contract of carriage of goods by road if the carriage of the shipment includes and/or takes place by road; 

the contract is a contract of carriage of goods by air if the carriage of the shipment actually takes place by air.

the contract is a contract of carriage of goods by sea if the carriage of the shipment actually takes place by sea.

18 DANGEROUS GOODS / SECURITY 

18.1) Dangerous Goods 

a) Except in the circumstances shown in paragraph 5.1 (b) below we do not carry goods which are in our sole opinion dangerous goods including, but not limited to, those specified in the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) technical instructions, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) dangerous goods regulations, the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) code, the European Agreement concerning the international carriage of Dangerous goods by Road (ADR) regulations or any other national or international rules applicable to the transport of dangerous goods. 

b) We may at our discretion accept some dangerous goods for carriage if you have been accorded the status of an approved customer and this must be given by us in writing before your shipment can be accepted. Your dangerous goods will only be accepted if they comply with the applicable regulations and our requirements. In the case of discretional carriage, a dangerous goods surcharge will be invoiced to you upon acceptance of your shipment. 
 

 

18. INSURANCE 

18.1 BGSS only covers total loss of each item of baggage to the rate of £50 or the value of the shipment whichever is lowest to the maximum pay out of £50. This does not cover damage to goods or partial loss of items within bagages which could occur as a result of the circumstances stated in section (2.1) above. However, you may choose to purchase insurance from any insurance of your choice for the full value of your shipment, parcel or air freight shipment by completing the relevant box on the consignment note and you paying the premium/charges in full to cover you against all/part of the risks of loss and damage during carriage. This will be subject to the full terms and conditions of the Insurance Company who accepts to cover your shipment under ‘Goods in transit’ category or other. This insurance may not be available for some categories of products in accordance the T&C of the Insurance company. However if you do send such goods which fall outside the uninsurable goods categories, we recommend that you arrange the insurance yourself. 

The above insurance options (18.1) (i) does not cover losses of a consequential nature (see condition 16 above) or delays in carriage or where the loss has arisen as a result of your breach of your obligations under these terms and conditions.

19. CLAIMS BROUGHT BY THIRD PARTIES 

You undertake to us that you shall not permit any other person who has an interest in the shipment to bring a claim or action against us arising from the carriage even though we may have been negligent or in default and if a claim or action is made you will indemnify us against the consequences of the claim or action and the costs and expenses we incur in defending it. 

20. CLAIMS PROCEDURE 

If you wish to claim for a lost, damaged or delayed shipment you must comply with any applicable convention or if none applies you must comply with the following procedure otherwise we reserve the right to reject your claim: In the event of total loss or damage,

a) you must notify us in writing about the loss, damage within 21 days after delivery of the shipment or within 21 days of the date the shipment should have been delivered and then within the next 21 days you must document your claim by sending us all relevant information about the shipment and the loss, damage suffered. We are neither obliged to act on any claim until our carriage charges have been paid nor are you entitled to deduct the amount of your claim from our carriage charges; 

b) we will assume the shipment was delivered in good condition unless the receiver has noted any damage on our delivery record when he or she takes delivery of the shipment. In order for us to consider a claim for damage the contents of your shipment and the original packaging must be made available to us for inspection and the result of which is matched against your earlier disclosure of content as stated in our invoice at the point of collection. 

c) I situation where legal action is considered to be brought against us through any applicable convention and/or law your right to claim damages against us shall be extinguished unless such action is brought in a court of law within  6 months from the date of delivery of the shipment or from the date on which the shipment should have been delivered or from the date on which the carriage ended. 

21. RATES AND PAYMENT 

21.1 You agree to pay our charges for the carriage of the shipment between the locations specified on the consignment note/contract of carriage and any value added taxes for the carriage within 7 days from the date of our invoice. You waive all your rights to challenge our invoices if you do not contest our invoice in writing within 7 days from the date of the invoice. Our carriage charges are calculated in accordance with the rates applicable to your shipment as set out in our current rate card. As a matter of course all import duties, value added taxes on goods and all other charges levied on the shipment in the destination country shall be payable to us by the receiver upon notification of such values is received from relevant authorities and advised to receiver and if the receiver refuses to pay you agree to pay us these amounts in full within 7 days of us notifying you that the receiver has not paid. You agree that we may charge interest on all invoices not paid within 7 days from the invoice date at the rate of 6% above the European Central Bank base rate. You agree to pay our reasonable and proper cost of collection of invoices not paid within seven days from the invoice date. 

22. LAW AND JURISDICTION 

22.1 In the event that any term or condition is declared invalid or unenforceable such a determination shall not affect the other provisions of this contract of carriage all of which remain in force.

22.2 Disputes arising from or related to this contract of carriage shall be subject to the laws and the courts of the country in which the subsidiary or affiliate or branch of BGSS that accepts your shipment for carriage is based.

 

GENERAL

 

23) The Use of This Website

These terms and conditions govern all the use of this website as usage activates your unconditional acceptance to them. You are hereby advised to cease using this website immediately if you do not agree to these terms. These terms and conditions will continue to apply if you register on our site/hand your goods to us or request and agree to any of our services and also by making payment for services rendered or yet to be rendered. 

Our terms and conditions may change from time to time, we may make changes to the contents of 
this website, including to the descriptions and prices of goods and services we offer at any time and without recourse to customers/visitors. We reserve the right to personalize this site based on the usage, activity and preferences of the site users and could without notice change the appearance, contents, prices and format of our website at any time. We strongly recommend that you check regularly for such changes as ignorance is not an excuse. You are bound by our terms and conditions for your continued usage of this website even after any change has been made.
 
24)  Exclusions and limitations

The information on this website is provided on an "as is" basis. To the full extent permitted by law. The use of this site excludes all representations and warranties relating to this website and its contents, including in relation to any inaccuracies or omissions. In addition to that, the use of this website excludes all liability for loss or damage arising out of or in connection with such usage. This includes, without limitation, direct loss or indirect loss of both tangible and intangible assets regardless of whether or not the loss was foreseeable, arose in the normal course of events or you have advised us of the possibility of such potential loss and indirect, consequential or incidental damages.

We do not however exclude an act of God such as liability for death or personal injury caused by its negligence. The above exclusions and limitations apply only to the extent permitted by law. None of your statutory rights as a consumer that cannot be excluded or limited are affected.

 

25)  Content changes and accuracy of information

BGSS does not necessarily share the opinions expressed or endorse the material appearing in external content published by it on this website.

 

26) BGSS’ compensation and other conditions discussed in our T&C are subject to revision from time to time, and services may be added or deleted. 

 

27) Interest Charges on non payment of invoiced amount

 

Interest is charged on non payment of fees before shipment. However, where otherwise agreed, goods are shipped based on customer's promise to redeem their full outstanding fees at a particular date not later than 4 days after loading has taken place. In the case of a default or where the customer fail to pay as promised on the agreed date,  BGSS reserves the right to apply interest on the total amount outstanding at 29% per annum. This interest shall be applied each day that the fees remain unpaid until they are paid. If the payment is not made until the goods are cleared at the port of discharge, warehousing cost as stated by the warehouse provider shall be added to the accumulated interest and outstanding fees. After a period of two weeks, if the accumulated charges and the outstanding fee remain unpaid, BGSS shall write the customer officially giving a week notice for the full fees to be paid or the goods be auctioned to recover the fees and charges. If after the auction the fees and charges are not fully covered by the proceed of the auctioned goods, BGSS shall recover the balance from the customer through any legal means it deems necessary and appropriate at the time including but not limited to legal action and the use of debt collectors/bailiffs.

 

 

28) Fraud

 

If any claim or valuation is found to be fraudulent in any way, further processing of such claims will immediately be stopped and all claims forfeited.