In the case of dispute over contract of freight forwarding by sea between
Yantai Anxin International Logistics Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as
Anxin Company) as the plaintiff and Dalian Jincheng Logistics Supply Chain
Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Jincheng Company) as the defendant29, Anxin
Company authorized Jincheng Company to handle the general affairs about five
shipments from Dalian, China to Singapore, including export booking (BBK split
hoisting), stacking, packing, strapping, reinforcement and inbound transportation.
Jincheng Company accepted the authorization but was frustrated during the process
of arranging the goods to enter the port. The goods failed to ship as scheduled,
but Jincheng Company still required Anxin Company to pay remuneration. Anxin
Company claimed the reason the goods failed to enter the port was that Jincheng
Company did not hoist the special container involved in the case by BBK split
hoisting. Jincheng Company argued that the failure was due to the weather. Both
the parties failed to provide sufficient evidence to support their opinions. The
Court held that, in accordance with Article 405 of the Contract Law of the People’s
Republic of China which provides that if the entrustment contract is dissolved or
the entrusted affairs cannot be accomplished due to reasons not attributable to the
agent, the principal shall pay corresponding remuneration to the agent, Jincheng
Company, as the trustee, failed to prove that the failure to ship the goods was due
to reasons not attributable to it, therefore there was no legal basis for it to accept
Anxin Company’s remuneration and it should returned the remuneration.