Relieving Or Exempting Carriers' Liability

Facts

In July 2009 the plaintiff and the defendant in a recent case entered into a transportation agreement in which the defendant would be responsible for transporting 10 sets of passenger boarding bridges and accessories for the plaintiff from the port of Nansha, China to the port of Mumbai, India by sea, then to the project site at New Delhi International Airport by truck. On July 21 2009 part of the goods under the agreement were loaded onto the M/V XX at Nansha to be transported to Mumbai. The carrier issued a bill of lading for this shipment.

Unfortunately, three pieces of cargo were damaged due to several accidents during transport: one by a fire in the cabin of the XX, another during the unloading process and a third in a traffic accident during the road transport from Mumbai to New Delhi International Airport.