China - Abandoned Cargo Advice
Under China customs law, import shipment over 60 days, local customs has "right" to seize the cargo and put for auction. However, bearing in mind it is not an obligation of the customs, that is reason some valueless cargo can sit for years.
Does the Member need an official written letter from the customer that he abandons the cargo?It would be helpful but in most of the case the cargo receiver just did not show up and/or the shipper did not give any instruction to the Member.
Is it possible for the Member to survey, sell, auction or destroy the cargo in this jurisdiction?This is a difficult part in China because most of the uncollected shipment case is without customs clearance and Member will not have right to dispose the cargo unless and until the direction is given by the customs e.g. "return order", put for auction etc. In this situation, Member will only have to rely on some local agent to liaise with the customs in order to expedite the process and negotiate for a discount on the customs storage fees etc.
Does the Member need to obtain a court/customs order to have authority to dispose the cargo?Yes, customs' order is necessary in most of the uncollected shipment cases.
Will the container and cargo be blocked by customs?If the customs is not cleared, you may construe this as "blocked by customs" because no one can touch it.
Source of InformationThomas Miller Hong Kong
You may also be interested in:
Congratulations to UK Club board member Nikolaus H Schües, who has been named the 46th President of BIMCO.
The region comprising Latin America and the Caribbean is a busy one for the UK P&I Club. Some prominent Members have a large number of tons entered with the Club and have this region as their principal place of business. Moreover, many of the Club’s entered ships frequently call at Latin American and Caribbean ports regardless of where the Member is based, which can undoubtedly be anywhere in the world.
With cargo’s newfound ability to go well beyond the vessel and even the port, container lines face new liabilities. The intermodal capability means that containers transit on public highways and railroads, areas traditionally excluded from P&I cover. This new type of risk has given rise to the Through Transport Club (‘TT Club’), a specialised transport and logistics mutual covering risks complementing P&I cover. Both covers dovetail with one another through corresponding cover and exclusions during ocean transit.
On 4 December 2022, the UK Government issued General Licence INT/2022/2469656 (“GL”) to implement the EU/G7 price cap in respect of Russian origin crude oil, which was amended on 3 February 2023 to implement the separate price cap in respect of petroleum products.