Due to the liability incurred for both their own and others’ property, companies carrying out transport tasks are particularly susceptible to various types of threats, the realization of which often leads to enormous damage and losses.
For this reason, it is extremely important to identify the sources of risk, which will allow for influencing both its causes and effects, thereby contributing to maintaining the continuity and punctuality of the transport process. Identifying the sources of damage will therefore allow for deciding which of them require appropriate preventive measures to be taken first, as well as proper actions to minimize the effects of risk realization.
Risk in transport operations
Every type of risk constitutes a source of costs, which consist of: financial resources incurred to limit risk, financial resources allocated to financing risk, costs resulting from ceasing a specific activity due to the associated risk, or costs of lack of reimbursement for specific losses. Looking through the prism of companies providing transport services, it can be stated that they bear relatively the highest risk costs compared to other business activities. To the risk costs associated with transport operations, one should also add the values of damage resulting from the materialization of risk, and these can be enormous for all participants in the transport process, which primarily include the shipper and the consignee, as well as a number of entities participating in this process.
Modern supply chains are exposed to the realization of various types of risks. A significant cause of this is often the very long journey that goods travel from the manufacturer, through intermediaries, to the final buyer. However, the course of transport is not free from various types of transport risks, often leading to damage to the transported cargo. Transport risk is defined as the probability of the realization of an undesirable event that could cause loss or damage to the object of movement. It is worth noting that every moved object is subject to transport risk, including: the driver/drivers, passengers, goods, information transmitted electronically, as well as the means of transport by which the carriage is carried out. All these objects can be the subject of transport insurance.
Concept and types of damage in road transport
Risk is inextricably linked to damage and losses in transported goods. Transport damage should be understood as damage occurring in transported shipments. Hence, the basic feature of transport damage is its occurrence during the movement process, that is, from the moment the shipment is accepted by the carrier until its delivery and release to the consignee. The Transport Law Act lists 3 types of transport damage: loss, shortage, and damage to the shipment. Article 17(1) of the CMR Convention, on the other hand, includes total or partial loss of goods, as well as their damage. Total loss of goods is synonymous with the term “loss of shipment” used in Polish transport practice. Such a situation means that the carrier, despite the fact that the transport time has expired, is unable to release the goods to the authorized person.
The article contains 19,110 characters.
Source: Logistyka Magazine