Reviewing the pack's trading terms
Why a freight business should not send the Logistics pack's starter trading terms unread, which clauses to check, and how signed terms are kept.
By Achekam · · 4 min read · For Logistics businesses in South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya
Launching soon. The Industry CRM add-on described in this article is launching soon. This article describes it as it will work at launch.
Trading terms are the document nobody reads until a load goes missing. Then everyone reads them very carefully: the shipper's insurer, your own insurer, the shipper's lawyer and, sooner or later, yours. Whatever the terms say about liability, time limits for claims and payment is what you are left with. Whatever they fail to say is decided by the general law, which may be far less kind to a carrier than you assumed.
The Logistics & freight pack in Achekam's Industry CRM includes starter trading terms as part of onboarding a shipper. The short answer to whether you can send them as they are is no. This article explains why, what to look at, who should look at it, and how the signed version is kept once a shipper has agreed.
Starter wording for review
Every contract or agreement in the Industry CRM's packs is marked as starter wording that the business must review before use. The Logistics pack's trading terms are no exception.
Starter wording gives you a sensible structure and the clauses a freight business usually needs, so you are not beginning with a blank page. It cannot know the things that decide what your terms should say:
- whether you are a carrier moving goods on your own trucks, a broker arranging other carriers, a forwarder, a warehouse, or several of these;
- which countries your loads start, cross and finish in;
- what your insurance actually covers, and its limits and exclusions;
- what your own subcontractors' terms allow you to pass on.
Terms that promise a shipper more than your insurer or your subcontractors give you leave the gap with you.
Clauses on liability, claims and payment
Read every clause, but read these with particular care:
| Clause | Questions to ask |
|---|---|
| Limitation of liability | Is your liability capped, and does the cap match your goods-in-transit cover? |
| Excluded goods | Are high-value, hazardous or perishable goods excluded unless agreed in writing? |
| Claims procedure | How quickly must damage or loss be reported, and in what form? |
| Time bar | By when must a claim be brought, and does that suit your insurer's rules? |
| Payment terms | When is payment due, and what happens on late payment? |
| Lien | Can you hold goods until overdue charges are paid? |
| Subcontracting | May you use other carriers, and on whose terms? |
| Delays and extras | Waiting time, storage and fuel adjustments: how are they charged? |
| Governing law | Which country's law applies when a load crosses borders? |
Payment terms belong in two places: in the trading terms and in the credit approval for each shipper. The pack onboards a shipper with a credit application, a credit limit the business decides, and trading terms signed electronically, so the limit you approve and the terms the shipper signs should say the same thing. Shipper credit applications and signed terms covers that side.
Who reviews
Three people should see the terms before the first shipper signs:
- Your lawyer, for enforceability in each country you operate in and for the clauses limiting your liability.
- Your insurance broker, to confirm the liability you accept matches the cover you hold.
- Whoever runs operations, to make sure the claims, delay and documentation clauses describe how you actually work.
Keep a note of who reviewed which version and when. When you change insurers or start a new kind of service, review again.
Electronic signing, and documents marked for ink
Once reviewed, the terms can go out for electronic signature. Achekam can send any document for signing with signature and initials fields placed on it, signers in order or all at once, an expiry and reminders. A signer from outside the business, such as a shipper's director, means the envelope must be linked to a client or a CRM lead before it is sent.
Whether a simple electronic signature is enough depends on the law and on the parties. The UN's Model Law on Electronic Signatures sets out the reliability criteria for treating electronic signatures as equivalent to handwritten ones, and many national e-signature laws build on it. Ask your lawyer whether your terms, in each country, need anything more.
Two limits to know. The signing completion certificate always describes the signatures under South Africa's Electronic Communications and Transactions Act, whatever the workspace's country, so a Nigerian or Kenyan business should check that wording with its lawyer. And where a pack marks a document to be signed in ink, it is never offered for electronic signing: that step simply tracks the paper copy until it comes back signed.
Signed terms on the shipper's record
When everyone has signed, the signed PDF and a completion certificate are filed back into Documents. Keep them where they can be found quickly by anyone handling a claim or a dispute for that shipper.
A few good habits:
- Version your terms. Give each reviewed version a date, and record which version each shipper signed.
- Do not let terms drift. If a shipper negotiates a change, record it as a signed amendment, not as a remark in an e-mail.
- Re-sign on material change. When your terms change significantly, ask existing shippers to sign the new version.
Before the first shipper signs
Send the starter terms to your lawyer and broker with a short description of your services and routes, adjust them, fix the payment clause to match your credit approvals, and record the approved version. New shippers can then come through the onboarding path described in from enquiry to shipment, with reviewed terms waiting for them.
General guidance only, not advice on your own circumstances. Tax and payroll rules change: check the current position with the authority or your adviser.
