Carrier Not at Fault for Shipment Rejection in Egypt, FMC Says
A Federal Maritime Commission small claims officer this week dismissed a complaint against CMA CGM, saying that shipper Sameh Elawamry failed to show that the ocean carrier did anything improper in its unsuccessful delivery of two vehicles to Egypt.
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Elawamry had sought more than $8,000 in reparations, arguing CMA CGM was responsible for last year's decision by Egyptian customs authorities to reject the importation of his Honda and Mercedes-Benz vehicles. The authorities ordered the vehicles to be returned to Long Beach.
But the small claims officer sided with CMA CGM, which insisted that the vehicles were rejected because Elawamry failed to provide valid "Advance Cargo Information Document" (ACID) identification numbers on shipping documents for the vehicles. CMA CGM also asserted it didn't have the option to correct the numbers after they were rejected.
The decision came a week after the small claims officer ordered ocean transportation intermediary Emarat Shipping, which hired CMA CGM to transport the vehicles, to pay nearly $14,000 to Elawamry for failing to ensure the shipping documents had valid ACID numbers. Instead of using a unique ACID number for each vehicle, Emarat placed a previously used ACID number into the bills of lading for both vehicles, the small claims officer said.