A shipping agent is the carrier’s representative at the port — handling vessel entry and clearance, pilots, berths and cargo documents — yet it is the party most misunderstood on liability: when cargo is lost, customers knock on the agent’s door first, while legally the agent acts in the carrier’s name and is not the carrier. A good agency contract is one that writes this authority-and-liability boundary clearly on its first page.
Conditions for acting for a foreign shipping line
Shipping agency services in Vietnam are provided by Vietnamese enterprises meeting maritime service business conditions under the Vietnam Maritime Code 95/2015/QH13 and Decree 160/2016/ND-CP: shipping agency business lines and prescribed personnel and organisation conditions. A foreign line serving Vietnamese ports appoints a local agent to perform port work on its behalf. In practice, international shipping groups are present through Vietnamese joint ventures or subsidiaries acting as agents for their own parent line — but the agency capacity remains that of the Vietnamese entity appointed under the agency contract.
Is the agent liable for the cargo
The legal principle is that the agent acts in the name and under the authority of its principal — the carrier or charterer — so rights and obligations from acts within authority belong to the principal. The agent is not the carrier and bears no carriage liability for cargo loss or damage like the carrier does; the agent’s liability is confined to its own fault: botching procedures so the vessel is delayed, issuing wrong documents, or acting beyond authority, for which it must compensate the resulting damage to the principal and affected third parties. This boundary should be mirrored in the agency contract and in how the agent signs documents — always expressly ‘as agent for’ the carrier.
How agency commission is calculated
Agency remuneration is agreed in the agency contract, usually in two components: a per-call agency fee for port work on each vessel visit, and disbursements advanced by the agent for the carrier — port dues, pilotage, towage — reimbursed against actual vouchers. There is no mandatory statutory tariff for agency commission; the level is negotiated by trade volume, call frequency and scope of work. The common dispute points are undocumented disbursements and exchange-rate differences at settlement, so the contract should fix voucher standards and a clear settlement cycle.
What an agency contract should contain
A complete agency contract regulates: the specific authority scope per port operation; processing-time and reporting standards for the carrier; the mechanism for advancing and settling port costs; allocation of liability when documents are wrong, the vessel is delayed or cargo claims arise; confidentiality of the carrier’s customers and rates; and termination terms with handover of documents and outstanding balances. For trades carrying dangerous goods or project cargo, the contract needs a separate annex on notification duties and safety files — because in those trades an agent’s port error carries consequences many times the agency fee of one call.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does acting as agent for a foreign line require?
The company must be a Vietnamese legal entity with shipping agency business lines, meeting maritime service business conditions under the Maritime Code 95/2015/QH13 and Decree 160/2016/ND-CP, appointed by the line under an agency contract to perform port operations in Vietnam on its behalf.
Is a shipping agent liable for cargo?
The agent is not the carrier and bears no carriage liability for cargo loss or damage as the carrier does — rights and obligations within its authority belong to the appointing carrier. The agent answers only for damage caused by its own fault, such as wrong procedures, wrongly issued documents or acting beyond authority.
How is shipping agency commission calculated?
By agreement in the agency contract, usually a per-call agency fee for port work plus disbursements advanced for the carrier — port dues, pilotage, towage — reimbursed against actual vouchers. There is no mandatory statutory tariff; fees are negotiated by trade volume, call frequency and scope of work.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council