Liiberty to chose route, means and procedure etc.
BIFA (2005) Section 4 (B)
The Company reserves to itself full liberty as to the means, route and procedure to be followed in the performance of any service provided in the course of business undertaken subject to these conditions.
FIATA Model Rules Section 5. Unless otherwise agreed, the Freight Forwarder may without notice to the Customer arrange to carry the Goods on or under deck and choose or substitute the means, route and procedure to be followed in the handling, stowage, storage and transportation of the Goods.
NCBFAA Section 4 . . . . Company shall use reasonable care in its selection of third parties, or in selecting the means, route and procedure to be followed in the handling, transportation, clearance and delivery of the shipment; . . .
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Peter Jones' Commentary:
Clause 4 of the BIFA Conditions (2005) do not itemize the actions that a forwarder is authorized to undertake on behalf of its customer. Instead these conditions include a Clause of General Application.
Ordinarily an agent and a principal decide how much discretion the agent can exercise in fulfilling its mandate. If the agent presumes that it can exercise a discretion without express authority of its principal, a court may decide that the agent is really acting as a principal. These clauses give the forwarder broad discretionary powers even when acting as an agent. No inference should be drawn that the forwarder exercising these powers without consulting its customer is really a principal.
These clauses ensures that a customer knows that the forwarder acting as a principal has an entire discretion on the matters covered in the clause. In law the forwarder need not even discuss these matters with its principal, but commercial practice is to inform a customer and let the customer make objections (which does not generally happen).