Damage to carrier's trailer

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loaders

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Feb 26, 2008
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I would be interested in hearing from both other brokers and carriers regarding a situation that I am sure we have all dealt with at some time. We recently received photos and an email from a carrier who had just delivered an LTL flat bed shipment for us. He claims, and the photos seem to indicate that the wooden flooring of his flatbed had broken in a couple of sections as a result of, what he says was improper loading by the shipper. In all honesty, what the photos really show is a pretty tired looking deck floor. He maintains that the shipper placed dunnage on the trailer that was required to properly load the shipment and it was how this dunnage was placed that caused the trailer floor damage. The driver must have been agreeable to this, because he secured the load, signed the B/L and left. Now, after the delivery has been completed, the carrier is looking to us to repair his trailer. There was no change to the weights and/or dimensions of the shipment from what we had originally provided to the carrier. We received no notification from either the shipper or the carrier that there was a problem with the loading procedure. I have no idea as to the vintage of this flatbed, but from the pictures there appears to be some previous attempts at repairs. I want to be fair, but maybe this was a case of an old trailer needing some more substantial repairs that just happened to let go while hauling my shipment. If there had been some identifiable negligence on the part of the shipper, I would have no problem going to bat for the carrier, but we move these shipments regularly and have never had a problem like this. Feel free to weigh in on a Friday afternoon.
 
The dunnage would prevent the weight to be distributed more evenly on the deck. Was this a heavy LTL?
 
The last Friday of the month means we all have time to chime in on this, right? :)
First, Happy Friday!

Here's my take from similar situations, as we both know no two situations will be the same. I can think of three ways this could go or some combination of this:

1. Shipper, Consignee and Broker could decide that wear and tear on the trailer is a cost of doing business for the carrier to handle, even if this shipment contributed to the damages. It's not friendly, but are they being reasonable in asking you to repair their trailer that clearly has some wear and tear?

2. Ask the shipper and consignee if they felt that their shipment contributed to the state of the deck floor. You never know the result (I recently had a shipper admit to causing minor damage to a metal rail at the back end of a trailer, he asked for the repair bill and owned his mistake). Ethical people do exist. He's my new favourite customer for his honesty/integrity.

3. If and when both shipper and consignee tell you it wasn't their fault (you have done many shipments on this lane for this customer without previous incident), ask yourself how important the carrier relationship is with this particular provider and maybe assist with a portion of the repairs. The issue taking this route is - what percentage of the trailer deterioration can be attributed to your clients shipment vs the hundreds or thousands of loads previously handled on this FB?

From the description you provide of the photos you have seen and the regular shipments without incident my gut feeling is that this deck was in poor condition before it arrived to your shipper. Perhaps they can help you in the future by snapping a photo before loading their shipments? Everyone has a smartphone these days.

Keep well, be sure to enjoy your weekend when you get there!
Mike
 
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No, it wasn't a heavy LTL and the dunnage was required for the fork lift to be able load and unload, really nothing out of the ordinary or complicated here. I am more inclined to take ralphthetrucker's approach on this one. This was an old wagon that should have hauled it's last load months or years ago, or been relegated to moving some much lighter shipments. If the shipper had dropped the piece from a height, or dragged the freight across the deck, that would be a different story.
 
To me this sounds like regular wear and tear maintenance costs that shouldn't fall on any other party except for the owner of the trailer.
 
It sounds like the only way someone could claim on this is if Shipper took pictures of secure load and driver
then driver takes pictures condition of load prior to off loading at receiver and receiver signing off on load prior to off loading
 
Carrier accepted the loading at the time, and there's no conclusive evidence that your shipment damaged the trailer beyond normal wear and tear. But this is why smart carriers now take before and after photos.. In this day and age of smart phones that's not a hard thing to do... shoot a couple of date stamped pics prior to loading .. of the load once on trailer.. and immedately after the load is off. I have a couple of carriers who video every loading/unloading.. I think that's overkill.. but you know... if it documents negligence just once every ten years then its likely time well spent.

Years ago I picked up a trailer at the CN pig yard in Brampton. trailer wasn't off the train yet when I arrived.. I arrived just in time to see them drop it onto the ground from a great height... it bounced a few times before settling down. I had no camera.. (also long before digital cameras were invented).. and we had a heck of time collecting a damage claim.. my word against four pigyard employees who said it never happened.
 
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