A Chinese Buyer Has Not Collected the Cargo: What Can the Overseas Seller Recover?

1. Act on the cargo before arguing about liability

Ask the booking party, line and port agent for the cargo’s present location, arrival and discharge dates, customs and release status, free time, rate schedule, latest charges and available storage or return options. Flag perishability. Check any insurance notice requirements. Save written replies and do not wait for the buyer to admit default before exploring ways to limit the loss.

This guide concerns an overseas seller and a mainland Chinese buyer, with the shipment at a mainland Chinese discharge port. Identify the contracting buyer, booking party, shipper, consignee, importer and person controlling the transport document. They may be different. A sales invoice or Incoterm alone does not identify who can redirect a shipment.

2. Keep the carrier’s invoice separate from the sales claim

The revised PRC Maritime Code took effect on 1 May 2026. Article 295 applies Chapter IV to international sea-carriage contracts with a Chinese loading or discharge port. Check transition issues for earlier or straddling events, and do not assume the same rules govern disposal abroad.

Under Article 93, when nobody collects at the discharge port, the master may unload to a warehouse or other suitable place, with resulting costs and risks borne by the shipper and prompt notice to the shipper. If the consignee has already exercised rights under the carriage contract but delays or refuses pickup, the resulting costs and risks of that handling fall on the consignee. Check what was actually done under the transport contract; being named or receiving an arrival notice does not, on its own, establish that rights were exercised.

Break down storage, container or equipment charges, terminal fees and amounts advanced by the carrier. Check who invoiced them, the rate and free-time terms, dates and contractual basis. A sales term allocating the cost between seller and buyer does not by itself establish liability to the line.

3. Confirm who can move, sell or release the cargo

Article 94 allows a carrier to retain the corresponding cargo for qualifying unpaid charges without adequate security, with an exception to retention for unpaid freight where the document indicates prepaid freight, unless the consignee is the shipper. Under Article 95, a carrier holding cargo under Article 94 may apply for a court auction once it has remained uncollected for 60 days counted from the day after the vessel arrived at the discharge port. Earlier auction may be sought for perishable goods or when the specified costs may exceed their value. This is neither free time nor a seller’s disposal licence. Auction proceeds go to the statutory charges first; the carrier may pursue a shortfall from the shipper.

Article 96 addresses written instructions by the shipper during the carrier’s responsibility period, including return, a different discharge port or delivery to another consignee, subject to compensation and statutory refusal grounds. Check document presentation, requested security and operational feasibility. Before redirecting, selling or destroying anything, confirm control of documents, third-party interests, customs and terminal requirements, and real costs.

4. Choose a sales remedy before making inconsistent demands

If the CISG applies, Articles 53 and 60 require payment and cooperation with delivery as well as taking over the goods. Check places of business, treaty status and declarations, and any exclusion or variation under Article 6. Arrival alone does not prove proper tender. Missing documents, nonconforming goods or the seller’s own failure to cooperate can change the analysis. Article 79 may affect damages if its conditions are met; Article 80 prevents reliance on nonperformance to the extent caused by the party invoking it.

If keeping the sale alive, consider a price or pickup demand under Article 62, provided no inconsistent remedy has been chosen. Article 63 allows a reasonable additional period. During it, breach remedies are generally restricted unless the buyer gives notice that it will not perform in time; delay damages remain available. Do not let a demand period clash with urgent cargo handling.

If ending the sale, Article 64 addresses fundamental breach and failures or stated refusal to pay or take delivery within the reasonable additional period. Additional timing limits apply if the price has been paid. Give notice of avoidance under Article 26 and retain delivery evidence. Article 81 addresses release from obligations, surviving dispute terms and restitution. Do not demand full continued performance while treating the same resale proceeds as an extra recovery.

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5. Build three evidence files and calendar the separate clocks

For the sales file, collect the order, payment and pickup terms, tender documents, objections, demands and a net loss schedule. CISG Articles 74 and 77 require attention to causation, foreseeability at contracting and reasonable mitigation. Article 75 concerns a reasonable substitute sale after effective avoidance. Preserve offers and transaction records, account for savings and receipts and avoid claiming the same loss twice.

For the handling file, keep customs status, proof of authority, notices and competing storage, return and resale quotes. CISG Articles 85, 87 and 88 address preservation where the seller controls the goods in the relevant circumstances, reasonable warehousing, sale after unreasonable delay with reasonable notice, urgent sale measures for rapid deterioration or unreasonable expense and accounting for proceeds. A preservation sale is not automatically an Article 75 resale and does not override port or customs requirements.

For the carriage file, keep bills of lading, arrival and release records, rates, invoices and service evidence. Article 284 generally gives one year for compensation claims in carriage: against a carrier or actual carrier from delivery or when delivery was due, and against a shipper, consignee or transport-document holder from actual or constructive knowledge of the infringement. Its special 90-day third-party recourse rule has conditions. Do not apply that clock to every invoice or the separate sales claim. Check each forum, limitation rule, notice deadline and enforcement target. Seek advice promptly if charges are mounting, cargo may perish, disposal is threatened or a deadline is close; a consultation does not extend time.