The role of a ship's agent is ordinarily to communicate and make commercial arrangements between a principal and third parties.
As a general rule, when the agent is (and is seen to be) only facilitating rather than directly conducting operations, the chances of the agent having legal responsibility when something goes wrong remain reasonably low. If the lines blur, trouble can follow but here are three habits and defensive techniques that agents can adopt to help avoid difficulties.
Ship's agents should always make it clear that they are acting as an agent when conducting commercial dealings. Most agents do sign commercial documents - and all correspondence - "as agent only" as a matter of routine. Nonetheless it is worthwhile reinforcing that this is an essential risk minimisation technique.
An agent who provides information or advice to their principal (or anyone else) without stating the source of that information or advice may save typing and sound impressive but will seem far less impressive - and may be legally liable – if the information or advice turns out to be wrong.
An agent who says "the depth alongside is 14 metres" may face difficulties if the depth turns out to be less. An agent who says "the terminal operator says the depth alongside is 14 metres" may well be in the clear, even if what the terminal operator said proves to be wrong.
As professionals, we all like to be seen by our clients to have a "can do" attitude, but inevitably situations arise where something unusual must be organised, perhaps at short notice and involving multiple other participants, and that is where dangers lie.
Ideally responsibilities should be fully documented but even if time is too short for that, a quick communication to all involved setting out who is responsible for what, when and for how much can pay major dividends.
Ideally someone other than the agent should be noted to have overall responsibility for the operation, and the operation will be described by reference to the result your principal wants to achieve, rather than the specific material steps required for that achievement.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
