Cargo Liability

• Author: John D. Holding, Q.C., MRAeS
• Pages: 47-59

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Chapter 5: Cargo Liability

A. AMBIT OF LIABILITY

1) General

The basic cargo liability provisions of the Montreal and Warsaw Con-

ventions are essentially the same. The carrier is liable for destruction,

loss of, or damage to cargo if the “occurrence” (Warsaw) or “event”

(Montreal) which caused the loss or damage took place dur ing the

carriage by air.1 T he carrier is also liable for damage occasioned by

delay in the carriage by air of cargo.

a) Occurrence or event.

It is submitted that, when cargo has been received by the carrier in

apparent good condition and lost or delivered in damaged condition,

absent inherent defect or defective packing, it should be inferred that

the loss or damage was caused by an occurrence or event which took

place during the carriage by air.

It should be noted that the above cargo liability provisions do not

make use of the term “accident” which is used in t he liability provi-

sions for passenger injury liability. Liability to passengers is limited to

1 Montreal Convention, art. 18, par a. 1, 19; Warsaw Convention, art. 18(1), 19.