(1) The method of stipulating the transshipment port (place) in the contract. In the process of international cargo transportation, due to geographical reasons or according to the wishes of the parties concerned, the goods need to be transshipped at certain ports or other places. In this case, the international sales contract or the relevant transportation contract may make provisions for the transshipment port (place). The transshipment port (Port of Transshipment) or transshipment place (Place of Transshipment) refers to the port or place where the goods are transshipped during transportation. Sometimes the contract only stipulates in general that transshipment is allowed, and sometimes it is necessary to stipulate where the transshipment takes place.
At this time, the provisions on the transshipment port (place) appear in the contract. When drafting the relevant terms of the contract, it is usually noted after the port (place) of destination, usually connected by “VIA (via, through)” or “W/T (with transshipment at. Transshipment)”. The following clauses are examples:
“Port of Loading: Shanghai, China, Port of Destination: London, UK W/T Hong Kong.”
Sometimes the transshipment port (place) is added after the port (place) of loading, but this is relatively rare.
(2) Matters needing attention when stipulating the transshipment port (place) in the contract. When stipulating the transshipment port (place) in the contract, the following issues need to be noted.
① The transshipment port (place) should be appropriate. It should not be the case that the transshipment port (place) specified in the contract is not suitable for transshipment.
② The transshipment port (place) should be selected clearly and specifically, and attention should be paid to the phenomenon of duplicate names of relevant ports or other places.
③ After the goods are transshipped, the transportation time is usually longer than the direct flight time, so the transportation cost may also change. Therefore, attention should be paid to cost accounting, and transshipment ports (places) with relatively low transshipment costs or even the entire transportation costs or other appropriate conditions should be selected, and they should be stipulated in the contract.