The role of a ship's agent is ordinarily to
communicate and make commercial arrangements between a principal
and third parties.
As a general rule, when the agent is (and is seen to be) only
facilitating rather than directly conducting operations, the
chances of the agent having legal responsibility when something
goes wrong remain reasonably low. If the lines blur, trouble can
follow but here are three habits and defensive techniques that
agents can adopt to help avoid difficulties.
Ship's agents should always make it clear that they are
acting as an agent when conducting commercial dealings. Most agents
do sign commercial documents - and all correspondence - "as
agent only" as a matter of routine. Nonetheless it is
worthwhile reinforcing that this is an essential risk minimisation
technique.
