When the holder of the bill of lading of the imported goods is separated from the holder of the warehouse receipt and both require the port operator to deliver the goods, the port operator cannot deliver the goods only by the warehouse receipt
In the case of dispute over port goods warehousing contract between Sinochem International (Holdings) Co., Ltd. as the plaintiff (hereinafter referred to as Sinochem Company) and Dalian Port Co., Ltd. as the defendant (hereinafter referred to as Dalian Port Company) and China Railway Materials Harbin Co., Ltd. as the third party (hereinafter referred to as China Railway Company), the port operator Dalian Port Company issued a warehouse receipt to China Railway Company based on the goods transfer certificate issued by the depositor who was not involved in the case. However, the depositor had not paid the seller of the goods and had not obtained the bill of lading, so he could not obtain the delivery order. Sinochem Company purchased the goods from the seller to obtain the bill of lading, and then paid the import duties to the customs and obtained the delivery order with the customs clearance stamp. The holder of the bill of lading Sinochem Company and the holder of the warehouse receipt, China Railway Company, both demanded the delivery of imported goods from Dalian Port Company. The Court decided that the port goods warehousing contract between the depositor and the port operator was valid because the validity of this contract was not based on the condition that the depositor was the owner of the stored goods, but the consignee of the imported goods should provide the warehouse operator with the warehouse receipt and the delivery order with the customs clearance stamp to take delivery of the goods. The person who presented the delivery order to the port operator was inconsistent with the person who presented the warehouse receipt, which made the port operator unable to fulfill the contractual delivery obligations of goods. According to the provisions of Article 39 of the Property Law, a separate effective judgment had confirmed that Sinochem Company held the ownership of the goods and the Court ruled that Dalian Port Company deliver the goods to Sinochem Company.