The MV Georgios T loaded a shipment of 2,900 tons of maize in a French port. The maize was consigned to Cereal Mangimi Srl. Upon offloading in the port of Brindisi, part of the cargo was found to be wet and mouldy.

Cereal Mangimi Srl sued the carrier, Status Maritime SA, and its agent, Zaccaria & C Srl, before the Court of Brindisi, claiming damages for the loss of 800 tons of maize. The Court, acknowledging that 800 tons of maize had been destroyed, partially upheld the claim and limited the compensation to half of the amount claimed.

Both parties appealed against the first instance judgment. The Court of Appeal of Lecce confirmed the first instance decision, but further reduced the amount of damages attributable to the carrier.

Cereal Mangini Srl appealed to the Court of Cassation.

Held: The Court of Cassation found that in the framework of Italian maritime transport, and in the light of the provisions of the Brussels Convention 1924 (the Hague Rules) and art 422 of the Italian Code of Navigation, the loading and stowage of goods are ancillary to the contract of carriage, and fall within the carrier's sphere of risk, cost, and liability.

Therefore, any derogating clauses, such as in the present case the 'free in, liner out' clause in the bill of lading, will affect only the costs and not the liability of the carrier.

This principle is in line with well-established case law, according to which the 'free in, liner out' clause, in the absence of different and more specific indications, has the exclusive purpose of charging the loading costs to the shipper and the unloading costs to the receiver, without affecting in any way the liability regime of the carrier, who is therefore not exempted from ordinary diligence in the custody and stowage of the cargo.