Iron ore cargo shortage claim dismissed : Chinese court holds carrier only responsible for B/L wet ton quantity Introduction Recently, a substantial number of cargo shortage claim cases involving iron ore, soy bean, and crude oil etc. are being filed with Chinese courts. Especially in terms of carriage of iron ores, not only in Chinese courts, due to too frequent occurrence of iron ore shortage disputes, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People's Republic of China (AQSIQ) and its branches have issued various warnings and notices alerting Chinese merchants dealing with import of iron ores. As appreciable, cargo shortage claims may generally just involve a small claim amount and in the golden times of shipping, this will not be a big problem and cargo shortage may be settled instead of being filed at court. However, during this long winter in the shipping industry, for carriers every coin has its value and considering the frequent occurrence of such cases, it makes sense to defend such claims as much as possible. In terms of legal defences, carriers may generally argue that the shortage is caused by a calculation/measurement error, that it is a matter of inherent vice of the goods, that the carrier is not liable for 0.5% reasonable loss, or that the carrier can be exempted on the basis of an unknown clause in the B/L. The carrier may also argue that it should not be responsible for the dry tons of cargo, and the carrier may also try to challenge the authenticity and accuracy of the load port moisture certificate. By the end of year 2014, an appeal court of China rendered a judgment to dismiss a cargo claim case and the most eye-attracting point of the appeal judgment is that the court holds the carrier responsible only for B/L wet ton quantity. The facts and legal reasoning of this judgment are summarized herewith for club/members' attention. Summary of this cargo shortage case Seller A and buyer B concluded a contract