ARE YOU A HAULIER OR A FORWARDER OR BOTH?
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We all know that the freight forwarder's role is to arrange for goods to be transported between A and B, while the haulier actually carries the goods from A to B. But many hauliers are also freight forwarders and undertake both tasks.
So does it matter if you are deemed to be a forwarder or a haulier? Operators who are used to international road haulage will know that this sector is governed by an international convention where either end of the journey is in a country which is signed up to the CMR (this includes all EC members). The CMR applies only to hauliers—not to freight forwarders.
The CMR includes rules that are drasticaly different from ordinary English law. In one recent case a truck carrying carrying carpets from Lisbon to Manchester shed its load on the M6. The carpets were damaged beyond repair and the customer sought to sue the haulier under English law. What the customer did not realise (and it is usually the case that the non-hauliers are caught out) was that such an action has to be brought within 12 months. This limitation period can be extended in certain circumstances, but in this case the limit had not been extended and the claim was time barred so the customer recovered nothing—unless he won damages from his lawyers for failing to advise him of the limitation period! It is clear that the lawyers advising the customer thought that the normal English rule applied, with a six-year limitation. The rule seems to be that when a haulier arranges and carries a customer's goods, he will be deemed to be a haulier.