Buyers still need to look shipment date
Understandably, where a CIF/CFR contract provides for an arrival
period, it is often assumed that the vessel must arrive at the
discharge port within that time. However, it is not normally as
simple as that. Instead, the provision for an arrival period
usually only means that the seller is obliged to ship the goods in
order to ensure that, in the ordinary course of events, the vessel
will arrive at the discharge port within that period.
The buyer must therefore still keep a close eye on the shipment
date for the goods in order to act promptly on any breach by the
seller and, equally, in order to avoid wrongfully rejecting the
goods if the vessel arrives after the expiry of the arrival period
due to circumstances beyond the seller's control.
