The steps are set by the conditions of carriage of the province where the trip started — not by the carrier’s claims form, and not by whoever answers the phone.
Key takeaways
Note the problem on the delivery document before the driver leaves. Then give written notice of the claim to the originating or the delivering carrier — in British Columbia, within 60 days after the delivery of the goods, or within 9 months after the date of shipment where delivery was never made — setting out the origin, destination and date of shipment and the estimated amount claimed. Then file the final statement of claim within 9 months after the date of shipment, together with a copy of the paid freight bill.
Those two steps are conditions on the carrier’s liability, not administrative courtesies. Miss them and the carrier is simply not liable, however clear the damage.
There is no single Canadian cargo claim statute for road freight. The federal Conditions of Carriage Regulations, made under the Motor Vehicle Transport Act, provide that for an extra-provincial truck undertaking the conditions of carriage and limitations of liability are those set out in the laws of the province in which the transport originates. Where a province has no enactment on the point, they are those agreed to by the undertaking.
Manitoba’s Motor Carrier Division puts the same rule from the provincial side and notes that virtually all Canadian jurisdictions regulate conditions of carriage. In practice: the load left Kamloops, you are reading British Columbia’s Articles. The load left Winnipeg, you are reading Manitoba’s. The consignee’s province is irrelevant.
A bill of lading in British Columbia must contain a provision stipulating whether or not the goods are received in apparent good order and condition, a space to show the declared value, and a statement of the notice-of-claim requirement. That first field is the one that decides most disputes. A clean signature on a damaged load does not extinguish a claim, but it forces you to prove later what could have been recorded in thirty seconds.
For household goods the regulation goes further and requires a conspicuous statement that the signature of the consignee for receipt of goods does not preclude a future claim for loss or damage made within the time limit.
The notice is not a phone call and not a portal ticket. It must be in writing, it must go to the originating carrier or the delivering carrier, and it must set out particulars of the origin, destination and date of shipment and the estimated amount claimed. Send it to both carriers where they differ; that costs nothing and removes an argument.
Within 9 months of the shipment date, file the statement with a copy of the paid freight bill. The paid freight bill matters: the Articles measure the loss including the freight and other charges if paid, so an unpaid invoice weakens the calculation.
Where two or more carriers handled the shipment, the originating carrier and the delivering carrier are jointly and severally liable with whichever carrier had custody when the loss occurred. That is deliberate: you do not have to identify which link in an interline movement dropped the load. The carrier that pays is then entitled to recover from the carrier that had custody, and nothing in those Articles deprives a consignor or consignee of any other remedy or right of action.
Two Articles decide the number. The first measures the loss on the basis of the value of the goods at the place and time of shipment, including freight and other charges if paid and duty if paid and not refundable, unless a lower value was represented in writing or agreed. The second caps it: the amount must not exceed $4.41 per kilogram ($2 per pound), computed on the total weight of the shipment, unless a higher value is declared on the face of the bill of lading.
That cap is computed on the weight of the shipment, not the weight of the damaged portion. It is the reason a pallet of electronics and a pallet of gravel recover the same amount unless somebody declared a value. Note too that a carrier is not bound to carry documents, specie or articles of extraordinary value without special agreement, and where it does so undisclosed, it is not liable beyond the same cap.
The carrier is not liable for loss, damage or delay caused by an act of God, the King’s or public enemies, riots, strikes, or a defect or inherent vice in the goods, nor for loss resulting from the act or default of the consignor, owner or consignee, the authority of law, quarantine, or natural shrinkage in grain and similar commodities. Nor is it bound to deliver in time for a particular market otherwise than with due dispatch, unless specifically endorsed on the bill of lading and signed.
The counterweight is the burden of proof. Where goods are carried at the consignor’s risk, the agreement covers only risks necessarily incidental to transportation, and the burden of proving freedom from negligence is on the carrier.
The notice periods above are conditions on liability. They are not the limitation period for starting a lawsuit, which is set by provincial limitations legislation. In Ontario the general rule is a two-year limitation period, running from when the claim was discovered rather than when the loss happened — the discovery principle. Sending a demand letter does not pause it.
Worked example: 8,400 kg of packaged goods, Surrey to Brampton
A pallet is crushed in transit. The receiver signs, notes “1 skid damaged, product exposed” on the delivery document, and photographs it before it moves off the dock.
The trip originated in Surrey, so British Columbia’s Articles govern. Written notice goes to the originating carrier and the delivering carrier the same week, stating origin, destination, shipment date, probill number, the damaged quantity and an estimated claim of $9,200.
The invoice value of the damaged pallet is $9,200. The shipment weighed 8,400 kg in total and no higher value was declared on the face of the bill of lading. The cap is therefore $4.41 multiplied by 8,400 — comfortably above the claim, so the cap does not bite and the measure is the value at the place and time of shipment plus the paid freight.
Reverse the facts and the answer reverses. Had the damaged item been a single 40 kg instrument worth $60,000 on a 400 kg shipment, the cap would be $4.41 multiplied by 400. The declaration of value on the bill of lading, made before the load moved, is the only thing that changes that.
The final statement of claim, with the paid freight bill, goes in well inside 9 months of the shipment date. The claim is paid at eleven weeks.
It may be, if it is in writing, reaches the originating or delivering carrier, and contains the particulars the Article requires. It is safer to send a written notice as well and keep the delivery record. The Article sets the standard, not the carrier’s process.
Rarely. The carrier is not bound to deliver in time for a particular market except by an agreement specifically endorsed on the bill of lading and signed by the parties. Consequential loss is a contract question, and if you want it you have to write it in advance.
Whoever bears the loss, and the Articles preserve the rights of both. In practice the party who owned the goods at the time of the loss claims, and title usually turns on the terms of sale rather than on the bill of lading.
If it was an interline movement, the originating and delivering carriers are jointly and severally liable, which is the point of that Article. If it was a single carrier, you are into insurance and, if you are a broker, into your own contract position — which is where the enforceability of your limitation clause starts to matter.
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