Freight forwarder acting as principal (French commissionnaire de transport)
A professional who organizes transport end to end on a client's behalf, choosing the carriers, and who under French law guarantees arrival of the goods and answers for the carriers it has engaged.
A commissionnaire de transport organizes, in its own name and on its client's behalf, the carriage of goods by one or more modes, freely choosing carriers, routes and providers. It differs from a mere forwarding agent, which acts in the client's name and answers only for its own faults. The French Commercial Code imposes a strict regime on it: it guarantees arrival of the goods within the agreed time, is liable for damage and loss except in cases of force majeure or the shipper's fault, and also answers for the carriers and intermediaries it has engaged, as if it had performed the carriage itself. It can then recover from them, but within the limits of their own liability caps. It may also limit its liability through its general terms, to the extent the law allows. For insurance, two covers meet: the commissionnaire's liability insurance, covering its commitments to its clients, and cargo insurance, which it may take out on their behalf if the client asks. Confusing the two is a classic source of uncovered loss for the shipper.
Hypothetical case: a commissionnaire organizes the shipment of 200,000 euros of goods from Lyon to Shanghai, by truck then by sea. The container is lost at sea. The commissionnaire is liable to its client, but its recourse against the shipowner is capped by maritime rules at a fraction of the value; without cargo insurance bought by the shipper, the gap falls on one or the other depending on the general terms.
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