Amid Logistics, LLC

GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS 

USING OUR SERVICE

NOTE: We Reserve the Right to Refuse Service to Anyone for Any Reason

In order to use shipping services provided by Amid Logistics, LLC (thereafter we, us, our etc) all users of these services (thereafter shipper, you, client, customer, he, she etc) MUST agree to the Terms and Conditions. You may NOT use these shipping services if you "do not accept the Terms and Conditions."

You can accept the Terms and Conditions by:

1. Clicking to accept or agree to the Terms and Conditions, where this option is made available to you in the user interface for any service; OR
2. By actually using these shipping services. In this case, you understand and agree that we will treat your use of these shipping services as acceptance of the Terms and Conditions from that point onwards.

LICENSING

Amid Logistics, LLC (thereafter we, us, our) is a licensed and bonded U.S. OTI – Ocean Transportation Intermediary - U.S. Freight Forwarder / International Shipping Company. Copy of our OTI license with a proof of financial responsibilities (surety bond) may be furnished upon request.

ATTENTION ROGUE MOVERS (OR UNLICENSED OCEAN TRANSPORTATION INTERMEDIARY)

Federal law (the Shipping Act of 1984) requires Ocean Transportation Intermediaries / International Sea Freight Shipping Companies to be licensed and bonded. Accepting cargo from unlicensed OTI / International Sea freight Shipping Companies constitutes a violation of the Shipping Act. Knowing and willful violations of the Shipping Act carry a possible civil PENALTY of up to $30,000 per occurrence.

Amid Logistics, LLC as a licensed and bonded U.S. OTI / International Sea freight Shipping Company held responsible for not providing service to unlicensed international sea freight shipping companies (rogue movers). In order to do so, all shippers when booking a shipment with us must confirm that they are NOT an unlicensed International Sea freight Shipping Companies (unlicensed OTIs) and do not arrange international shipments for individual shippers unless operating under an OTI license.

Falsification of this statement is considered as an attempt to violate the Shipping Act. Information about the attempt along with obtained information about the unlicensed international sea freight shipping company (unlicensed OTI) will be forwarded to the U.S. Federal Maritime Commission in order to PENALIZE the unlicensed international sea freight shipping company for its illegal activity.   

GENERAL

All information published in our website including shipping rates obtained in quotes is subject to changes without notices. All texts, references, and links should be considered only as suggestions based on our working experience in the sea freight shipping industry. We DO NOT guarantee its accuracy in all circumstances. It CANNOT be considered such official shipping procedures in all situations. We CANNOT guarantee that our website is free from typos either in the content or numbers of the text in shipping rates, charges etc. If a consumer (thereafter shipper, you, client, customer, he, she) is faced with a misunderstanding or error, we will do our best to resolve the issue with less harm for both of us ASAP.   

To eliminate any misunderstandings, the shipper must NOT accept any verbal shipping agreements. We CANNOT honor verbal shipping price quotes or any perceived promises. ALL Shipping pricing, commitments, and promises have to be in writing.

Detailed service conditions from a sea freight carrier used on your shipment can be found on the back side of the ocean freight bill of lading issued to you. Consider this ocean freight bill of lading an evidence of a contract of carriage/shipping between ocean freight carrier and shipper.

COMMUNICATION

In our practice email is considered as a mandatory method of communication with our customers. It is the customer’s responsibility to provide correct contact email on the sea freight shipment, both at the origin and destination. Failure receiving our email for any reasons may result in the sea freight shipment delay and/or extra charges and/or other difficulties. If our client does not receive our email as expected, then it is the client’s responsibility to contact us in order to find a reason for not receiving the email. 

Our staff is trained and responsible for providing quality freight forwarding / international shipping service on particular shipments. We are unable to educate our clients on all aspects related to the international shipping industry terms and procedures over the phone. We build a wide library of shipping references and answers to FAQ on our website. We strongly recommend reading these shipping references and FAQ. Before calling, customers have to obtain our shipping price quote or shipping booking reference number via the website in an email. Without this shipping reference number, i.e. not having information on your perspective or current sea freight shipment, we most likely will not be able to provide answers to your questions.   

SHIPPING DOCUMENTS

It is shipper’s responsibility on the description, legality of commodity and sufficiency of shipping documents submitted to an international sea freight shipment. We are NOT responsible for any information submitted by shippers in their shipping documents. It is shipper’s responsibility to provide all necessary shipping documents related to his ocean freight shipment that will be required by origin and destination country officials.

All shipping documents MUST be completed by the shipper and sent to us, no later than one day after shipment is delivered to the ocean freight carrier. Failure to complete shipping documents may result in increased shipping cost, delay, storage charges and/or other penalties. 

AMID LOGISTICS, LLC shippers will be able to schedule ocean freight shipments online and receive emails with complete shipping instructions. The exporter must follow these shipping instructions. Failure following these shipping instructions may result in the shipment cancellation, shipping delay or unpredictable additional charges. We will NOT be held responsible for any issues that may occur due to failure following to these shipping instructions. 

PICKUPS AND LINE HAUL

Pickup rates depend on the type of pickup site and commodity type. Linehaul shipping charge depends on commodity type as well. When shipper requests a quote/booking he/she MUST select the proper type of pickup site and commodity type. Selection of the incorrect type of pickup site and commodity type MAY RESULT TO SHIPPING PRICE CHANGES.

Residential or business with limited access pickup is curbside-service. The driver will load freight from a driveway, front porch, garage or acceptable loading area. NO inside service is permitted due to liability. Some additional shipping charges may apply if your pickup conditions or area are out of normal range. These shipping charges will be calculated and forwarded to you in the final or a separate invoice. These following shipping charges MAY OCCUR BUT NOT LIMITED TO: attempted pickup, debris removal, inside the pickup, waiting time etc.

DETENTION (WAITING TIME) CHARGES – When using line-haul shipping service, occasionally detention or waiting time charges may occur. Detention/waiting time charge means that when an LTL carrier's truck delivers cargo to an origin ocean freight carrier's terminal (CFS), and the ocean freight carrier's CFS is overloaded, then it stays in line for an uncertain time. It may take up to 3 (three) hours.

LTL carrier's tariffs require paying detention charges by the shipper. Typically $90.00 per hour. If detention charges occur,  we will forward these charges to the shipper to be paid along with a clear copy of the LTL carrier's invoice.    

DIMENSIONAL WEIGHT

Pickup and/or line-haul shipping charges are based either on the Actual or Dimensional weight of your shipped cargo, whichever is greater.

FREIGHT CLASS (in respect of U.S. domestic ground transportation)

Freight Class is the category of your shipping freight defined by the U.S. National Motor Freight Traffic Association. (NMFTA). It is also referred to as NMFC: National Motor Freight Classification. Higher freight classes are subjects to higher shipping costs on the ground cargo transportation.
 
When shipping NMFC rated shipments, shipper MUST be assured that freight class provided is accurate. Shipper may also call the NMFTA direct at (703) 838-1810 in order to reconfirm freight class on his/her shipment by commodity.

Shipper is held responsible for freight class declaration. Our pickup/line haul shipping price quotes are based on the freight class declared by the shipper. Declaration of incorrect freight class MAY RESULT TO SHIPPING PRICE SCHEDULE CHANGE.

SHIPPING OF FOOD STUFF, WINE, DRUGS ETC

International shipping of Food Stuffs including wine and drugs (any item that is edible), including food items, edible animal byproducts, supplements, etc, are subject to detailed regulations. Violations of these regulations can result in detention, confiscation, or destruction of cargo, as well as fines and criminal charges. Responsibility for proper documents, permits, and incurred charges are for the account of the shipper/consignee.

OCEAN FREIGHT BILL OF LADING

Ocean Freight Bill of Lading is the final shipping document received from us. Consider the Ocean Freight Bill of Lading a title on your international shipment. Ocean Freight Bill of Lading transfers ownership on your shipped goods to the consignee. Find more about Ocean Freight Bill of Lading in this link.

By default, all international sea freight shipments with us go on express releases. Express = telex release = means that you do not have to provide originals Ocean Freight Bill of Ladings in order to claim your shipped goods at the destination. An International Ocean Freight Shipment on express release should be released at the destination upon providing a copy of the Ocean Freight Bill of Lading received from us an e-mail. No originals required.

Several countries, particularly Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, Certain countries in Africa, do not accept Ocean Freight Bill of Ladings on express releases. Ocean freight carrier should specify it upon an issue of Ocean Freight Bill of Lading. We will then we will mail you a set of originals Ocean freight Bill of Ladings by USPS First Class Mail within USA/Canada for free. Expedited or international mail MUST be prepaid. If shipper/receptionist requires a set of originals of Ocean Freight Bill of Lading for shipments to countries that do accept express releases, a $50 fee will be added on top of the cost of the mail.

Amendment in Ocean freight Bill of Lading after it had been issued may not always be possible. We strongly recommend you to pay extreme attention to information that you entering when booking your shipment. As soon as an Ocean freight Bill of Lading is issued, any amendments to it are subject to an amendment fee. This fee varies from $70 to $200 possibly more.

Notice: If an international ocean freight shipment has been paid by credit card(s),  before issuing an ocean freight bill of lading we may ask for a confirmation that payer clearly understands that the ocean freight bill of lading is our final shipping document on this shipment. It is the title on shipped goods and proof on the transfer of the ownership on the shipped goods to the consignee in the ocean freight bill of lading (recipient of shipped goods).

This will confirm that after receiving the ocean freight bill of lading our shipping service provided is completed as agreed. All parties that may concern of payment(s) on the shipment done by credit card(s) will consider this email the receipt on this payment(s) with payer's signature in it.

DISCREPANCY IN INVOICES ON SEA FREIGHT FROM OCEAN CARRIER. SMALL DISCREPANCY +/- $25.

As U.S. OTI – Ocean Transportation Intermediary, U.S. Freight Forwarder, we work on a flat service fee added to shipping rates from direct and indirect ocean freight carriers that we work and have accounts, contracts and/or shipping agreements with. We DO NOT add any commissions on top of ocean freight from sea freight carriers. Our database that contains these ocean freight rates/sea freight tariffs constantly updates. However, due to the vast amount of data, G.R.I continues changes in BAF, CAF etc, actual ocean freight rates/tariffs from carriers may slightly differ from ocean freight rates published online.

In our practice, we do our best to honor our offers to clients. In the event, if updated ocean freight rates/tariffs from sea freight carriers differ from ocean freight rates in our offers +/- $25, then our invoices indicate the discrepancy by default. However, if a discrepancy is significant, then we may inform our client about that and ask for consideration on resolving such issues. EXEMPTION: increasing ocean freight rates due to incorrect information on an ocean freight shipment submitted by the client. Refer to RISKY SHIPMENTS below.

TRANSIT TIME IN SEA FREIGHT

ETT - Estimated Transit Time (Shipping time) in ocean freight quotes is not precise and should be verified upon a booking request. Shipping time in booking confirmations on an international shipment by sea can not be guaranteed as well. Although ocean freight cannot guarantee shipping time (TT), normally international ocean freight shipments depart and arrive as scheduled.

WOODING PACKING, PALLETIZING, W/M AND INSURANCE

Shippers must be aware of shipping conditions on wooding packing, palletizing, w/m and insurance and charges related to these issues. References on these shipping conditions can be found on our website. If it is not enough, the shipper should then learn more about these shipping conditions from other sources.

SHIPPING PARTIAL CARGO. COMBINING TWO OR MORE CARGO DELIVERIES/DOCK RECEIPTS INTO ONE SINGLE SHIPMENT/BILL OF LADING

In respect of AMID Logistics, LLC's economy LCL service, partial shipments are the number of smaller cargo deliveries that need to be combined in one single international LCL sea freight shipment to be shipped overseas. An example can be a number of smaller U.S. eBay or Amazon purchases, delivered a particular address in the USA, to be consolidated in one single international LCL shipment.

Each LCL shipment (and the shipment's booking and reference number) is related to one single cargo delivery (and related to the delivery dock receipt from ocean freight carrier's terminal - CFS). Each cargo delivery to CFS will be automatically released to be shipped to the destination without any additional notices.

Important: Some international ocean freight carriers do not offer partial shipments service. Partial shipments may be subject to international sea freight carrier's fee (if applicable). If a partial shipment is not approved by AMID Logistics, LLC at a time of booking, then every single cargo delivery to CFS will proceed on regular basis such a single shipment.

If a shipper needs to combine two or more cargo deliveries into one single shipment/bill of lading, then it must be requested at a time of booking and approved by AMID Logistics, LLC in an email. If approved, then partial shipments are subject to AMID Logistics, LLC partial shipments fee $25 per every single additional cargo delivery (dock receipt) on top of the first delivery. Direct sea freight carrier's storage, handling, documentation fees may apply.

For more details regarding partial international LCL shipments please contact AMID Logistics, LLC in advance.

DEALING WITH SEA FREIGHT CARRIER'S DESTINATION AGENT

When dealing with U.S. freight forwarder / International Shipping Company, the shipper should be prepared for dealing directly with a direct ocean freight carrier's destination agent, which will handle cargo on his/her behalf as soon as cargo is out of the U.S. Commerce zone. Information for the direct ocean freight carrier's destination agents is available: for Export in carrier's ocean freight bill of lading - a final shipping document that acts as a title on the shipped goods; for Import - in shipping instructions before shipment is tendered. 

DESTINATION CHARGES

All international sea freight shipments are subject to destination charges. Destination charges (or local charges) occur at the destinations. Therefore they are not considered as freight charges. These charges vary according to the destination country, port of entry and ocean freight carrier. These charges ARE NOT included in ocean freight rate. As U.S. Freight Forwarder AMID Logistics, LLC does not connect to destination charges in any way. Destination charges can be assessed on/after the day of entry of shipped goods to the Commerce Zone of the destination country. The consignee must clear their sea freight shipment through customs at the designated port of entry and pay all costs related to the cargo release(s) directly to parties involved in the cargo recovery.

In general destination charges charges include (but not limited by): 1 - Destination Country Government (Customs) related charges, i.e. duty and taxes (if any), harbor fees, fee on entry filed by a destination Customs Broker etc.; 2 - Destination terminal(s) handling charges (THC) and other charges and fees related to cargo de-consolidation at the destination; 3 - 'Door delivery' charges (if consignee requests a 'door delivery')*.

*There is no 'door delivery' service offered. Cleared with destination country Customs and released by the destination terminal, cargo must be self-picked up from the destination freight terminal by the consignee. Most ocean freight carrier’s destination agents/terminals offer delivery service for an additional cost. Otherwise, the shipper may hire a local cartage company to arrange a pickup of released goods from the terminal to be delivered to the door of the consignee.

Depends on country of the port of entree, cargo will continue travel to the final destination freight terminal cleared with customs or in a bond that required to be cleared with customs at a bonded freight terminal of the destination country. I.e. destination charges may be divided by separate invoices related to particular parties involved in import recovery.

For export shipping from the USA, sea freight carrier's destination agent should guide consignees in the cargo recovery. For import to the USA, upon importers written request, we may handle the recovery. Otherwise, importers can clear their goods on their own or/and use service of any U.S. Customs Broker of their choice.

Regardless of who implements custom clearance and obtains ocean freight, freight release(s) on exporters behalf, it is EXPORTERS responsibility to meet the obligations and laws of cargo entry, obtain ocean freight release(s) and pay all charges and fees associated with that.

Exports from countries other than the United States are subject to various export charges and fees depending on the country of export, seaport (ship-terminal) and carrier. Estimation of origin charges can be included in ocean freight rate offered. However, the actual charges may vary depending on w/m of your ocean freight and conditions on your shipment.

Our website contains comprehensive samples of calculation of origin and destination charges. It can be used as a guide for the understanding and rough estimations. Actual origin and destination charges depend on commodity, shipping conditions and other circumstances on your international shipment.

Important: All operational cost and charges until the freight is eventually recovered will be debited to the consignee, with recourse against the consigner for any unpaid charges.

INSURANCE

AMID Logistics, LLC is NOT an Insurance provider. In event of insurance claim AMID Logistics, LLC is NOT responsible for any damages, missing cargo etc. AMID Logistics, LLC holds several accounts with marine insurance providers and, upon customers requests, we may obtain insurance certificates on our customers' behalf. Then in event of insurance claim:

• If an insurance certificate on an international sea freight shipment has been obtained via our account with a marine insurance provider, then the claim will be processed by the marine insurance company's claim settling agent located in the country of destination. Complete contact info of claim settling agents should be available in insurance certificates issued to our customers.
   
• If an international sea freight shipment supported by us have been insured by a third party marine insurance provider (not via our accounts), then in case of an insurance claim, please direct your insurance claim to the insurance provider.
   
• If an international sea freight shipment has not been insured, then all claims are to be directed to the ocean freight carrier's destination agent indicated in your bill of lading OR to a steamship line (direct carrier, VOCC) used in your international shipping from the USA. See the limitation of liabilities of direct carriers above.

PAYMENT TERM AND RETURN POLICY

Typically payment term is 5 (five) calendar days from the time of issuing our invoice in an email. However, if agreed in writing in advance, payments terms may vary depending on the type of shipping service and shipper's credit with us. The return policy is published on this website. 

In our business, email is considered a mandatory method of communication with our customers. All freight invoices are issued via email. If for any reasons you do not receive our email-invoice as expected, it is then your responsibility to contact us in order to find a reason for not receiving the email. 

PAYMENTS BY CREDIT CARD ONLINE VIA GOOGLE CHECKOUT OR PAYPAL

If not agreed in advance in writing in email payments by credit card online via Google Checkout or PayPal are LIMITED to US$750.00 total per entire sea freight shipment. Payments (full or partial) that exceed US$750 total CANNOT be done by credit card, but by check, money order or wire transfer. We reserve the right to refund unauthorized by us payments done online via Google Checkout or PayPal back to the credit card holder less transaction fee 3.79%/$10 minimum without notices.

Payments by credit card online via Google Checkout or PayPal must pass CVV and full AVS verification. If a payment has been accepted by and settled in Google Checkout or PayPal, but AVS did not match and/or CVV is not passed, AMID LOGISTICS, LLC reserves the right to refund the payment to the credit card holder less transaction fee 3.79%/$10 minimum without notices or request an additional confirmation(s) and/or verification on this payment.

In certain circumstances, even though an online payment had passed CVV and full AVS verification in Google Checkout or PayPal, we keep the right to request an additional confirmation(s) and/or verification on this payment.

A CONFIRMATION TOWARD CREDIT/DEBIT CARDS PAYMENTS: In order to secure funds transferred to our bank by credit or debit card via PayPal or Google checkout, if a shipment/freight has been paid by credit or debit card via PayPal or Google checkout, before issuing an ocean carriers bill of lading we may ask the credit/debit cards payer for a confirmation that the payer clearly understands that the ocean freight bill of lading is our final document on this shipment. It is the title on shipped goods and proof on the transfer of the ownership on the shipped goods to the consignee in the ocean freight bill of lading (recipient of shipped goods).

This confirms that after receiving the ocean freight bill of lading our shipping service provided is completed as agreed. All parties that may be connected to these payment(s) on the shipment done by credit or debit card via PayPal or Google checkout will consider this email the receipt on this payment(s) with payer's signature in it.

If for any reasons we will not receive from the credit/debit cards payer a confirmation to the statement above, then the issuing of the bill of leading may be suspended for 45+ days since the last credit/debit card payment has been settled at our bank account.

PROCESSING OCEAN FREIGHT SHIPMENTS UPON A COPY OF CHECK OR MONEY ORDER

In order to expedite the process of an ocean freight shipment, we can proceed with an ocean freight shipment upon receipt a scanned or faxed copy of the check or money order.  Shipper MAY fax or email the copy of the check to us. We will confirm receipt of the copy in email. This copy can be considered to be payer's authorization for electronic funds transfer. In event of delay of receiving the original check or money order in the mail, typically later than in 5 (five) calendar days after receiving the copy, we reserve rights to process the funds' transfer based on the amount and payer's bank info in a copy of the check or money order.

FAILURE TO PAY FREIGHT INVOICE

If a new customer DOES NOT pay a security deposit then we WILL NOT process his/her international ocean freight shipment. Clients with settled accounts as agreed in the accounts.

If ocean freight is tendered to the shipment, but our final freight invoice is not paid on the due date, late payment fees will apply. Late payment fee is 5% per day on the total due in invoice / $200 minimum, whichever is greater.

If the invoice is NOT paid within 10 (ten) calendar days after the due date, aside from the late fee, we may cancel the Express Release on the international ocean freight shipment. As the result of express release cancellation consignee WILL NOT be able to recover his/her goods at the destination unless received a set of originals ocean freight Bill of Ladings from us. Expedited mail with this set of originals ocean freight Bill of Ladings will cost US$200 added to other charges related to issuing the originals ocean freight Bill of Lading. We WILL NOT take any responsibilities on any storage, demurrage and other charges connected to delays with the release. We will not take any responsibilities on any charges connected to any delay of the ocean freight at any point on its way to the place of release. Insurance will be canceled as unpaid on the time of express release cancellation as well.

If not paid within 10 (ten) days from the day of arrival to the destination, your ocean freight shipment will be considered ABANDONED  without any additional notice from us to the client, i.e. requested to be destroyed or re-consigned and re-possessed and sold on the action in order to cover expenses related to the ocean freight, storage, demurrage etc charges. U.S. and destination security officials will be notified and additional fines levied.

RISKY SHIPMENTS

In certain circumstances, we keep the right to reconsider any regular ocean freight shipment to a RISKY SHIPMENT at any time. Risky ocean freight shipment can be considered for the following reasons (but not limited by these reasons only): suspicious money transfers or bounced checks, incomplete or incorrect consigner/consignee information submitted to the ocean freight shipment, discrepancy on estimated volume and weight submitted in a booking request against actual volume and weight retrieved by ocean freight carrier more than 50%, incorrect type of commodity, commodity description and/or pickup location declared in initial booking request, failures to submit proper shipping documentation and/or information required by ocean freight carrier and/or U.S. Customs, failures to pay our freight invoices etc.

Terms and conditions on risky ocean freight shipments will differ from term and conditions on regular ocean freight shipments as published in this web page. Terms and conditions on risky shipments will be amended depending on a particular situation.

Changes in terms and conditions on risky ocean freight shipments can be as follows (but not limited by): changes on cargo acceptance requirements, changes in payment methods and terms, changes in release conditions, amendments in ocean freight bill of ladings, our freight invoices etc.

Once we consider an international ocean freight shipment a risky shipment, the customer will be notified. As long as a customer is notified, then no verbal agreements or commitments can be accepted. All correspondence related to risky shipments must be in writing and can be used as an evidence.

CANCELLATION OF SERVICE, REFUNDS.

For new customers, international ocean freight shipments with unpaid deposits WILL NOT be processed. There is no obligation to cancel a shipment with unpaid deposit. Clients that have an account with us please refer to our agreement. 

If an international ocean freight carrier has NOT processed a shipment and cargo can still be put on hold and returned to the shipper, then please refer to our return policy.

After a direct international ocean freight carrier has processed a shipment and the shipment CANNOT be returned to the shipper, i.e. cargo is on the way to the destination: consolidated in the container, entered in international ocean carrier's container yard or pier to be loaded aboard a vessel etc and a refund CANNOT be provided.