| Award 1138

Award N°1138 – (2nd degree) – Synacomex c/p – Cargo damage – Unseaworthiness (No) – Inherent vice (Yes) – Body of indications hints matching together. After a 40-hour voyage between two Eastern Med ports and three days waiting on roads, damages to a cargo of maize were ascertained. The owner, who voyage chartered out the vessel, cannot be held liable since all three holds were loaded in full in terms of volume, in accordance with regulations covering the carriage of bulk grains. Facts of the case lead to think that a parcel of stable maize, stored in a cool atmosphere, loaded and carried for a relatively smooth voyage cannot overheat, nor seriously deteriorate, in such a short period of time of five days and that a number of indications, matching together, exists which are enough to exonerate the vessel from liability.