Terms of service

These terms govern your use of this website and any quotation, booking, or shipment you place with Fastwave Logistics. By using the site or instructing us, you accept them. If you are agreeing on behalf of a company, you confirm you have authority to bind it.

All business is transacted under our standard trading conditions, which are incorporated into every contract we accept and which contain provisions limiting and in some cases excluding our liability. They prevail over these terms and over any conflicting terms in your own purchase order or booking form. A copy is available on request and is issued with every quotation.

We act as a freight forwarder. On most movements we arrange carriage as your agent, contracting with airlines, shipping lines, and hauliers on your behalf, rather than performing the carriage ourselves. Where we expressly agree to act as a contracting carrier, we will say so in writing on the relevant quotation or transport document.

The distinction matters, because it determines who is liable to you for loss or damage in transit and under which convention. If you are unsure of our capacity on a particular movement, ask before booking.

• A quotation is an invitation to treat, not an offer. A contract forms only when we confirm a booking in writing.
• Quotations are valid for thirty days unless stated otherwise, and assume the weights, dimensions, commodity, and readiness dates you supplied.
• Rates are based on carrier tariffs, currency rates, and fuel and security surcharges in force at the date of quotation. Where these change before carriage, we may adjust the rate on notice to you.
• Chargeable weight is the greater of actual and volumetric weight, calculated by the relevant carrier's standard divisor.
• Transit times are estimates given in good faith. They are not guaranteed and do not form part of the contract unless we agree a guaranteed date in writing.

The information you give us is passed on to carriers and customs authorities largely unchanged, and both of us are exposed if it is wrong. You are responsible for the following.

• Describing the goods accurately and completely, including weight, dimensions, value, and any hazard classification.
• Packing and marking the goods so they withstand the journey and any handling, transhipment, or storage it involves.
• Providing complete and accurate documentation — commercial invoices, packing lists, certificates of origin, licences, and permits — in time for us to file declarations.
• Holding all export, import, and re-export authorisations the movement requires.
• Telling us in writing, before booking, if a consignment contains dangerous goods, temperature-controlled goods, or items of unusual value.

You indemnify us against claims, penalties, duties, and reasonable costs arising from information or documentation that turns out to be incomplete or inaccurate.

We do not accept the following without our specific prior written agreement, and we may refuse or abandon a consignment found to contain them.

• Bullion, currency, negotiable instruments, precious stones, jewellery, and works of art.
• Live animals, human remains, and biological or medical samples.
• Firearms, ammunition, explosives, and their component parts.
• Illegal drugs, counterfeit goods, and anything whose possession or carriage is unlawful at origin, destination, or any point in between.
• Goods subject to sanctions or export controls we have not been told about.
• Undeclared dangerous goods of any class.

• Invoices are payable within thirty days of the invoice date, in the currency stated, without set-off or deduction.
• Duties, taxes, demurrage, detention, storage, and inspection fees incurred on your behalf are recharged at cost and are payable on demand.
• Late payment carries statutory interest and compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998.
• We hold a general lien over goods and documents in our possession for sums due to us, and may sell lien-held goods after twenty-eight days' written notice, applying the proceeds to the debt.

We do not insure your goods unless you instruct us in writing to arrange cargo insurance and we confirm that we have. Our liability under the trading conditions is capped well below the value of most consignments, and carrier liability under the international conventions is capped by weight rather than value — which for most cargo is a fraction of what it is worth. Arranging your own all-risks cover, or asking us to arrange it, is the only way to close that gap.

Our liability is governed by our standard trading conditions and, where they apply compulsorily, by the international conventions: the Montreal Convention for carriage by air, the Hague-Visby Rules for carriage by sea, and the CMR Convention for international carriage by road.

Subject to those, we are not liable for indirect or consequential loss, loss of profit, loss of market, or loss of contract, however arising. Nothing in these terms excludes liability for death or personal injury caused by our negligence, for fraud, or for anything else that cannot lawfully be excluded.

The website itself is provided as it stands. Tracking information is drawn from carrier feeds and our own operational records; we take reasonable care over it but do not warrant that it is complete, current, or uninterrupted, and it does not vary the transport documents.

Time limits for cargo claims are short and are strictly enforced by carriers and by the conventions. Notify us in writing as follows.

Visible loss or damage

At the time of delivery, noted on the delivery receipt.

Concealed damage

Within seven days of delivery for air and road, and within three days for sea.

Delay

Within twenty-one days of the goods being placed at the consignee's disposal.

Any claim against us

Within nine months of delivery, or of the date the goods should have been delivered.

Keep the goods and their packaging available for inspection until the claim is resolved. Support every claim with the transport document, the commercial invoice, a packing list, and photographs of the damage.

Neither party is liable for failure or delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control — including war, civil unrest, terrorism, epidemic, extreme weather, port or airport closure, industrial action, cyber attack, carrier failure, or the act of any government or authority. Where such an event prevents performance for more than sixty days, either party may cancel the affected booking; charges already incurred remain payable.

These terms and any dispute arising out of them are governed by the law of England and Wales, and the courts of England and Wales have exclusive jurisdiction. Where an international convention applies compulsorily to a movement, it prevails to the extent of any conflict.

Questions about these terms, or a booking already placed should go to our team, who will acknowledge within two working days and respond substantively within thirty days.

Email

support@fastwavelogistics.com

Post

Fastwave Logistics Ltd, 1 Harbour Way, London, E16 1AA, United Kingdom