On arrival
Checking a pallet of oranges on arrival
Check in the order that respects who leaves first. While the driver is on site: pallet count, seal, visible damage, the temperature record, and any reservation written on the carriage note. Once he has gone: open boxes, gauge fruit, cut fruit. The CMR rules give you the handover moment exactly once.
The figures
| Loss or damage that is apparent | Reservation to the carrier at the time of delivery (CMR, article 30.1) |
|---|---|
| Loss or damage not apparent | Reservation in writing within seven days of delivery, Sundays and public holidays excepted (CMR, article 30.1) |
| Right to check at handover | Carrier and consignee must give each other reasonable facilities for the requisite checks (CMR, article 30.5) |
| Conformity of the fruit itself | Checked by sampling against the EU citrus marketing standard, not by eye on the dock |
What it changes on an order
Your warehouse signs for deliveries
Whoever is on the dock is making the only decision the carriage rules let anyone make at that moment. Give that person a short list of what has to happen before the lorry is released, and keep the long list for later.
You buy on a multi-drop route
A trailer opened three times before it reaches you has spent hours with the doors open in total. Where your drop sits on the run is worth knowing, and it is on the carriage note.
You are receiving from a new grower
The first delivery is the one to open properly, because it sets what the packing looks like when everything is right. Later queries are read against that first impression, so it is worth building it on purpose.
What this note does not settle
- This describes what the carriage rules and the marketing standard make possible at handover. It is not advice on whether to accept, reject or claim on a particular load, and it does not tell you what any of that would achieve.
- Conformity with the marketing standard is established by sampling. A dock check tells you whether to look further, and on its own it settles nothing.
- We have no claims procedure of our own to point you at, and no response time is confirmed. What we would do with a report from your dock is a conversation we have not had yet.
Source: Convention on the Contract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road (CMR), Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2023/2429, Annex I, Part B, Part 2
The order is decided by who leaves first
A driver stands at your dock for a matter of minutes. The fruit stays for days. So the order of the checks follows what stops being possible the moment the truck pulls out of the yard, and thoroughness has nothing to do with it. Everything that needs the vehicle, the seal, the recorder or a signature happens while the driver is still there. Everything that only needs the fruit waits until he has gone.
On a busy morning it goes the other way round without anyone deciding it. Pallets come off, somebody signs, the lorry leaves, and the careful look at the fruit starts afterwards. The carriage rules assume a check at handover and oblige both sides to make one possible, which is worth nothing once the vehicle has left the site.
A first pass is triage, not an inspection
Counting pallets, reading the marking on the boxes and looking down the stack for crushed corners is quick, and it is worth doing on every one. Sizing and internal quality are slow. They need fruit out of the box, a gauge, and sometimes a knife.
So the first pass decides one thing only: whether anything has to be said now. Then it marks which pallets get opened properly later, and that is the part people skip. Note which ones you opened and which you left sealed. A later finding on a pallet nobody looked at reads very differently from a later finding on a pallet you opened and cleared.
Talk to the grower
Tell us the variety, the sizes and the delivery week you need. You get a delivered price and what we can commit to in writing, from the person who picks the fruit.
The grower handles enquiries. Response times are still to be confirmed.