JUDGMENT

Civil Appeal No. 605/75

The question before the High Court was whether the demurrage charges, harbour dues etc. payable to the Port Trust of Madras were to be recovered from the consignee of goods or from the "steamer-agent". The High Court on the facts of the case came to the conclusion that the consignee was liable to pay the charges. We reproduce hereunder with approval the reasoning of the High Court in this respect:

"In the face of the above provisions, the question is as to who is liable for the demurrage charges in relation to the goods which were in the custody of the Port Trust till they were ultimately confiscated by the customs authorities. It cannot be disputed that neither the ship owner or the steamer agent whose duty is it to deliver the cargo to the consignee as per the contract with the shipper, cannot lay any claim of ownership to the goods. The obligation to deliver the goods to the consignee has been taken over by the Port Trust under the provisions of the statute and the ship owner is relieved of the liability for loss or damage to the goods from the moment the goods are taken charge of by the Port Trust as per section 39 of the Act. Once the goods are handed over to the Port Trust by the steamer and the steamer agents have duly endorsed the bill of lading or issued the delivery order, their obligation to deliver the goods personally to the owner or the endorsee comes to an end. The subsequent detention of the goods by the Port Trust as a result of the intervention by the Customs authorities cannot be said to be on behalf of or for the benefit of the steamer agents. Generally, if there is a delay in taking delivery of the goods by the consignee within a reasonable time, the steamer or its agent can warehouse the goods. In such an event the warehouseman has an independent claim against the consignee or endorsee for the demurrage charges. The position cannot be different merely because the Customs authorities have intervened. The position of the Port Trust is the same as that of a warehousman whose responsibility to the goods is also said to be a bailee. It cannot be said that the steamer or its agents have undertaken any responsibility for the custody of the goods after the transit has come to an end and after the bill of lading has been duly endorsed or a delivery order issued. By the endorsement of the bill of lading or the issue of a delivery order by the steamer agents, the property in the goods vests on such consignee or endorsee, and thus it appears to be clear that the steamer or the steamer agents are not responsible for the custody of the goods after the property in the goods passes to the consignee or endorsee till the customs authorities actually give a clearance. It should also be remembered that the steamer which has entered into a contract of carriage of goods for a reward cannot be said to have undertaken the responsibility of safeguarding the goods or keeping them at their risk till the goods are actually cleared from the customs and taken delivery of by the consignee. That will be imposing a too onorous and unexpected responsibility on the steamer which is only a carrier. If they are submitted to such a responsibility, in most cases where the goods are detained without delivery in the hands of the Port Trust at the instance of the Customs the Steamer or Steamer agents have to pay towards a storage or demurrage charges amounts quiet disproportionate to the freight they collect for the carriage of the goods. No carrier will undertake such a risk and responsibility. We are of the view that the provisions of the Port Trust Act cannot be so construed as imposing an additional liability or obligation on the carrier which was not contemplated by the contract it had entered with the shipper. It is only the customs of or the statutory provisions applicable to the Port of discharge that can be taken to be an implied condition of the contract between the shipper and the ship owner. Therefore, t