Cargoes Stolen with Counterfeit Electronic Release Documents

The International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC) warned members that misreleases of valuable container-ship cargos are becoming a major factor in claims by principals against their agents, and claimed that carelessness in dealing with telex releases has contributed to these losses. "Telex release" is the industry term for the release of cargo at one port when the original bill of lading has been surrendered at another. Today, despite its name, the telex release is almost always made by email. There have been multiple accounts of telex releases (emails) received by discharge port agents which have been manipulated to appear as though they have originated from the load port agent, and authorizing the release of cargoes and confirming that freight has been received, when it has not. ITIC is now recommending that agents verify the authenticity of messages before releasing cargo.