Last updated 21 July 2023

Interpretation

• "the Act" refers to the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 and includes any current or future amendments.

• “We”, “our” and "us" refers to StraitNZ Bluebridge Limited and to its subsidiaries, servants, employees, agents, contractors, sub-contractors, and actual carriers.

• “you” and “your” refers to the Consignor, Consignee, Freight Payer, Sender and Receiver and to their employees, agents and all other persons having an interest in the Freight which is listed on any consignment note.

• “at limited carrier’s risk” is as defined in the Act and currently specifies that our liability is limited to $2,000.00 GST inclusive for each unit of goods lost or damaged. We have given the value of limited carrier’s liability for information purposes only as this value could be amended by statute at any time. StraitNZ Bluebridge Limited is not liable for any loss of profits, indirect or consequential loss or damage.

• “at owner’s risk” is as defined in Section 8 of the Act. This is where the goods listed on any consignment note are carried at owner’s risk, which means that we will pay no compensation if the goods are lost or damaged, unless intentionally lost or damaged by us.

• “freight” refers to “goods” as defined in Section 2 of the Act

• “unit of goods” or “unit” is as defined in Section 3 of the Act and for the purposes of this contract means one parcel or package; one contained load of goods; one pallet load of goods; one cubic metre of goods and one tonne of goods and refers to how you have presented the freight to us for carriage.

• This contract shall be “at limited carrier’s risk” pursuant to the Act unless specified otherwise under the Act.

• We reserve the right to refuse carriage for any person, or any type or class of goods.

Condition of Goods

• You warrant and undertake in all respect that the freight is fit to be carried and stored in compliance with and in accord with all Acts, Regulations, Orders in Council, By-Laws, Standards, and all other legal requirements.

Rates, GST and Fuel Surcharges

• Our rates do not include GST or any fuel surcharge, unless specifically stated otherwise. Where GST is payable on the services provided for you, it will be charged to and be payable by you in addition to the rates specified. We reserve the right to assess a fuel surcharge at our discretion, without notice and you agree to pay all surcharges as we determine.

Weight and Measurement of Freight

• We may check the weight and measurement of your freight at any time and alter any consignment note accordingly.

• All packaging, pallets and other such items in which freight is packed or stored are deemed to form part of the freight for the purposes of assessing the weight and measurement of the freight and calculating the charges payable by you.

Dangerous Goods and Hazardous Freight

• Dangerous goods and hazardous freight are carried subject to you supplying us with any declaration and other documentation required by us or by law in relation to dangerous goods or hazardous freight. Dangerous Goods and Hazardous Freight must be packed, labelled and loaded in accordance with all laws and regulations applicable to the carriage of dangerous goods and hazardous freight, and in accordance with any guidelines or code of practice specified by us.

• You agree and accept that where we have agreed to the carriage of your dangerous goods and hazardous freight that delivery time frames are not guaranteed because any carriage of such dangerous goods or hazardous freight is subject to compliance with legal compatibility requirements, which may result in your freight and goods being separated and carried at different times.

Notice of Claim for Loss or Damage

• No claim or action shall be brought against us for the loss or damage of your freight unless we have received written notice from you giving relevant documentation and full particulars of the alleged loss or damage within 30 days from the date of completion of carriage of the freight, which is when our responsibility for the goods ceases as defined in Section 9 (3) of the Act.

Storage

• From the date on which our responsibility for the goods ceases as defined in Section 9 (3) of the Act, we may hold all goods not picked up by you, and/or all undelivered goods; and we shall be entitled to:

- charge storage fees at our normal storage rates at your expense and risk, and/or
- sell, destroy, or otherwise dispose of the goods, where in our opinion the goods appear to be deteriorating and are likely to become offensive, or entering into a dangerous state; and you will be held liable for the full expense of such sale, destruction or disposal; and/or
- return the goods to you at your own expense and risk, and we shall not be under any liability for any loss or damage to the goods however they may be caused.

Temperature Controlled Freight

• If you require Freight to be kept at a constant temperature or within a range of temperatures throughout its carriage you must notify us in writing prior to the time we accept the freight for carriage. We will not be liable for damage to or loss of the freight if you fail to do so.

• We reserve the right to check the temperature of freight by probe-testing or other such means as we determine appropriate.

General Lien

• We shall be entitled to a general lien over all freight you present to us for carriage in respect of all unpaid monies and this lien will continue until you have paid all monies owing to us. The provisions of Sections 286 to 291 inclusive of the Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017 shall apply in respect of such lien as if it were a statutory lien arising pursuant to section 285 (4) of the said Act.

Governing Law

• The laws of New Zealand shall govern this contract.

General

• When you make a booking, you are accepting these Freight Terms and Conditions, and our standard Terms and Conditions and the Conditions of Carriage which are available at www.bluebridge.co.nz/terms-and-conditions/. When you make a booking for others, you act as their agent and accept these Freight Terms and Conditions, our standard Terms and Conditions and the Conditions of Carriage on their behalf. You must inform them of these. This includes how we collect, store, and use their Personal Information (refer to our Privacy Policy at https://www.bluebridge.co.nz/privacy/).

• Unless specifically requested otherwise all goods are carried under the terms of Limited Carriers Liability.

• Your account must be paid to us within your agreed credit conditions.

• Any expenses incurred in debt collection will be passed on to you.

• Any overdue payment may incur interest at the same rate charged on our current account with our bankers from the date that payment was overdue until payment is received.

• You must examine each invoice and advise us within 30 days of the date of such invoice any alleged error(s). After such period the invoice is deemed correct and conclusive.

• You agree that if there is a change in the cost to us which is due to any factor beyond its control (examples include but are not limited to; increase in price of fuel, labour or other overheads, tax, duty) then we shall be entitled to increase freight rates payable by giving notice in writing to you.

• You acknowledge that failure to comply with any of the Freight Terms and Conditions, standard Terms and Conditions and Conditions of Carriage may result in closure of the account and refusal of carriage on any of our ships.

• You acknowledge that our Terms and Conditions are subject to change from time to time without notice.

Changes to Bluebridge's Wellington freight site 

Providing us with information

If you intend to ship a cargo unit of 3.5 tonnes or more gross mass with us, you must provide us with details of the gross mass of the cargo unit and any special properties of that cargo (including details of any dangerous goods) in advance of loading. It is important that the gross mass of that cargo unit is the same as the gross mass declared.

Packing and securing your load

You need to ensure that cargo carried in a cargo unit is packed and secured into the unit so as to prevent damage or hazard to our ships and hazard to any persons on board the ship, throughout the voyage.

It is therefore very important to ensure that every person who is responsible for packing your shipment is trained and familiar with—

(a) the forces likely to be experienced by your shipment during transport at sea

(b) the basic principles of cargo packing and securing;

(c) the environmental risks during shipping;

(d) the properties and any inherent hazards in respect of the cargoes being packed; and

(e) any symbols, labelling and documentation relating to cargoes being packed.

You must also ensure that a container is not loaded to more than the maximum gross weight indicated on the container’s Safety Approval Plate.

Road Freight

NZ Maritime Law requires all heavy vehicles with a gross mass of 3.5 tonnes or more in weight to be lashed to the ship’s deck to prevent movement while the vessel is at sea.  So if you’re shipping a road freight vehicle, road tank vehicle, or road livestock vehicle it needs to be:

(a) fitted with vehicle securing points in accordance with Part 2 of NZS 5444:2005; and

(b) marked with an information plate in accordance with Part 2 of NZS 5444:2005.

Portable tanks

(1) The shipper must not offer for shipment any portable tank that is—

(a) not capable of being safely lifted on and off a ship; or

(b) in a condition liable to produce an unacceptable hydraulic force due to surge within the tank.

Disclaimer: The information above has been taken from the current consolidated version of Maritime Rules Part 24B document produced by Maritime New Zealand, and serves as a reference for our customers only. This document has been compiled from the official rules that have been signed into law by the Minister of Transport. Copies of the official rule and amendments as signed by the Minister of Transport may be downloaded from the Maritime New Zealand website.

Introduction

We've compiled the following information to assist you in ensuring that all Dangerous Goods (DG's) are loaded in a manner that complies with the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code (IMDG Code) for carriage of DG's by sea. There may be variations between the land and maritime regulations, but whenever DG's are loaded on to a Cook Strait ferry the IMDG Code requirements must be fully satisfied. 

To assist you in the loading of vehicles to the IMDG Code we have included the segregation tables, stowage Categories, Limited Quantity information and an explanation of our requirements for pre notification of DG shipments (DG Load Notification) below.

Definitions

Placarding: All vehicles carrying DG's must be correctly placarded, which requires a placard for each class carried, to be displayed at both the front and rear of each vehicle.

Cargo Transport Unit: Cargo Transport Unit means a road freight vehicle (Combined Truck and trailer, b-train or Semi), a railway wagon, a freight container, a road tank vehicle, a railway wagon or a portable tank.

All sailings are DG sailings: all sailings are able to carry less restricted DG’s (Category A). The Term “dangerous goods/freight only sailing” means sailings where the number of passengers carried is limited to allow for the shipment of more restricted DG’s. 

Which sailing can my DG go on?

This is determined by the Stowage Category – refer to column 5 (Cat) of the UN Number list.

* Check our current sailing schedule for details of freight only/dangerous goods sailings. Some Semi trailers may not be compatible with our vessels top decks, please contact us for assistance

Can my DG be carried in the same cargo transport unit as other DG’s?

This is determined using the segregation table.  We've created the following quick guide to IMDG - segregation on Cook Strait to assist you.

Limited quantities

The IMDG provides for DG’s that are being shipped in Limited Quantities. Substances transported in Limited Quantities are allocated stowage category ‘A’ (can be loaded in the same transport unit as other non-compatible DG’s and can be shipped on all sailings).

The quantities for “Limited Quantities” are found in Column 10 (Ltd Q’s) of the UN Number list at the rear of this guide.

On the Dangerous Goods Declaration/ Load Notification the words “Limited Quantity” or “LTD QTY” shall be clearly included. Cargo Transport Units containing dangerous goods only in limited quantities shall be marked on the exterior as “LIMITED QUANTITIES” or “LTD QTY”. The total gross mass of an Outer Package shall not exceed 30 kgs, unless the Outer Package is shrink- or stretch-wrapped, in which case it shall not exceed 20 kgs. There is no limit to the number of Outer Packages or total weight that can be loaded in a Cargo Transport Unit.

Not to be shipped without prior consultation with StraitNZ Bluebridge

• Class 1 Explosives
• Class 2.3 Toxic Gases
• Class 7 Radioactive material

New Placarding Information

A placard is required for each class of Dangerous Goods being transported including subsidiary risks - unless in Limited Quantities (DGLQ).

If only DGLQ's are being shipped a "Limited Quantities" placard only must be used. 

For Drop / Swap units the placards are required on the front wall of the unit, as well as the rear due to these being shipped on Trestles. 

Use of mixed class placards is not permitted on the Cook Strait "Bumble Bee". 

Our load notification procedures

A DG load notification form must be submitted to us prior to shipment to enable IMDG compliance to be verified and vessel stowage planned.

The truck driver, or another authorised person, responsible for the loading of the truck that is booked for carriage, must submit a load notification form. This should be submitted at the earliest opportunity to allow for processing and any adjustments of the vehicle if errors are noted. Ideally we should receive this no less than four hours prior to sailing. 

Important information to include

The notification form must contain the following information: 

• UN Number

• Class and any sub-class 

• Proper Shipping Name  

• Packing Group ( Flash point for farmable items) 

• Weight 

• Number of packages

• Limited Quantities (If applicable) 

• Packaging size e.g. 500ml bottles, must be specified in the additional information field 

• Vehicle stowage plan 

• Be signed and dated the authorised person responsible for the loading.

All minimum standards in The Animal Welfare Act apply to the transport of animals within New Zealand waters. However, the information here contains specific additional material relating to transporting animals across Cook Strait on our vessels. 

When the driver of a road vehicle accompanies the vehicle on to one of our ships, the driver remains responsible for the animals. However, our master or person in charge of our vessel may refuse to transport sick, wild, or unmanageable animals. Our master may also refuse to transport any vehicle considered to be unsafe for, or presenting a risk to, the animals it carries. Here are some other important things to note:

Shipper's responsibilities

Vehicles should be equipped with a sufficient number of adequately designed,positioned and maintained securing points enabling us to securely fastened them to the vessel. StraitNZ Bluebridge stows and secures all freight in accordance with the appropriate requirements of the IMO Code of Practice for Cargo Stowage and Securing. 

The driver must be available during the voyage to provide care during the crossing. Our masters will allow the driver access to their animals for inspections and appropriate treatment, if circumstances allow.

Drivers must carry out an inspection of their animals before leaving the vehicle deck at the start of the sea journey and before driving the vehicle off or within 15 minutes after leaving the vessel.

Operational practices

At StraitNZ Bluebridge we do our best to ensure that trucks carrying animals spend the least amount of time on the vessel as possible (i.e. last on and first off). Vehicles are always secured to the ship before the start of the sea journey to prevent animals from being displaced by the motion of the vessel. Furthermore our Load Mate always ensures that stock vehicles are parked in a position on our decks that allows sufficient ventilation or oxygenation so as to maintain air quality and temperature at levels that avoid pain, distress or harm to the animals.

Rough weather

At times the weather conditions may be deemed too unsafe by our Master to ship any animals. Typically though, a decision not to ship any long-legged animals will be made first given they are the most susceptible to falls. 

During rough weather at sea, the level of animal inspection must always be dictated by safety requirements of the driver and our crew. Livestock are more likely to fall down during rough weather so inspections need to be carried out as soon as conditions allow and appropriate remedial measures taken. Assistance with downed, injured or distressed animals should be sought by the driver as soon as the vessel docks if on-board assistance has been unsuccessful.