Refund and Claims Policy

Last updated 18 August 2026. This policy explains how to raise a claim or ask for a refund, what evidence we need, how quickly we respond and what compensation you can expect. It sits alongside our Terms and Conditions of Carriage, and where the two documents differ on a point of liability, the Terms and Conditions prevail. Nothing here reduces rights you have under mandatory national law or the international conventions that govern carriage by sea, air and road.

1. Scope

This policy applies to every booking accepted by Transatlantic Express, whether the freight moved by ocean, air, road, rail, courier or a combination of them, and whether it was stored in our warehouses before or after transit. It covers three separate things that customers often mix together: refunds of charges we have invoiced, service credits where we failed to deliver a service you paid a premium for, and cargo claims where goods have been lost or damaged.

It applies to the party named as our customer on the booking, which is normally the party who pays our invoice. If you are a consignee receiving goods on someone else’s account, we will still help you gather evidence, but the claim itself must come from our customer or from an insurer acting on their behalf.

2. Cancellations and refunds of charges

Charges are refunded in full where we have not yet incurred cost on your behalf. Once costs are committed to a carrier, terminal or subcontractor they are usually not recoverable, and we will tell you exactly what has been committed before you decide.

• Before collection is dispatched: cancelled at no charge, and any prepayment refunded in full.
• After a vehicle has been dispatched but before loading: a wasted journey charge applies at the rate shown on your quotation, and the remainder is refunded.
• After loading but before the main leg departs: collection, handling and documentation costs already incurred are retained; the main leg and destination charges are refunded.
• After the main leg has departed: charges are not refundable, because the space has been used. We will still help you redirect, hold or return the cargo, quoted separately before you commit.
• Duty, VAT and government charges: refunded only if and when the relevant authority refunds them to us. We will lodge the reclaim on your behalf and pass on whatever is recovered without deduction.

Where you have paid a premium for a specific service level and we failed to provide it for reasons within our control, the premium element is credited automatically. You do not have to ask, and you do not have to prove loss to receive it.

3. Claim deadlines

Deadlines matter more in freight than in almost any other industry, because the conventions that govern carriage extinguish claims that are notified late. Please tell us as early as you can, even before you have all the paperwork, and we will protect the position with the carrier while you assemble the rest.

• Visible damage or shortage: note it on the delivery record at the point of delivery and tell us within 7 calendar days.
• Concealed damage: within 7 calendar days of delivery, with photographs of the goods and the packaging as received.
• Non-delivery or loss: within 30 calendar days of the expected delivery date. Cargo is not formally treated as lost until the carrier’s tracing process is complete, which normally takes 21 days.
• Delay, where a fixed-day or premium service was purchased: within 14 calendar days of delivery.
• Invoice disputes: within 30 calendar days of the invoice date. We will not suspend the rest of the account while a single line is in dispute.

A claim is treated as notified the moment you email info@transatlantic-expres.com or telephone the freight desk and receive a claim reference. Missing paperwork does not invalidate a notification made in time.

4. Evidence we need

The faster the evidence arrives, the faster the decision. In most cases we already hold the transport documents, the customs entry and our own load photographs, so the only things we normally need from you are these:

• The shipment reference or tracking number, and a claim reference if one has been issued.
• The commercial invoice or receipt showing the value of the goods, and the packing list.
• Photographs of the goods and the outer packaging, including any visible damage, taken before repacking.
• The signed delivery record, with any damage or shortage noted on it at the time.
• A short written description of what happened and the amount you are claiming, with a repair quotation where the goods are repairable.
• For temperature-controlled cargo, the data logger download or the reading at the point of delivery.

Please keep the goods and the original packaging until the claim is closed. They may need to be inspected by us, by the carrier or by an independent surveyor, and disposing of them early is the most common reason a legitimate claim fails.

5. How claims are assessed

We acknowledge every claim within 2 working days and aim to reach a decision within 15 working days of receiving complete evidence. Complex international claims involving an airline, shipping line or foreign subcontractor can take longer, in which case we update you at each stage rather than going quiet.

Assessment has two parts, and we run them in parallel. The first is the commercial question of what you are owed under this policy, your insurance cover and the applicable convention. The second is the operational question of why it happened at all. Every claim over a nominal value triggers a root cause review, and where the cause was something we control, the corrective action is recorded and shared with you. Paying a claim without changing anything is not, in our view, a resolution.

We will tell you honestly when a claim is not ours to pay. If damage was caused by inadequate packing by the shipper, by an inherent characteristic of the goods or by a customs authority exercising its powers, we will explain why and, where we can, help you pursue the correct party instead.

6. Compensation limits

Where you have arranged all-risk cargo insurance through us, settlement is made at the declared commercial value of the goods, including freight and duty where those were included in the declared value. This is the outcome we recommend for anything of meaningful value, and it is the reason we quote insurance alongside freight as standard.

Where cargo is uninsured, our liability is limited by the convention or trading conditions applicable to that leg, which are calculated by weight rather than by value. In practice that means an uninsured shipment of high-value, low-weight goods will recover only a fraction of its worth. The limits commonly applicable are:

• Carriage by sea: the Hague-Visby limits, by package or by kilogramme, whichever is higher.
• Carriage by air: the Montreal Convention limit per kilogramme of the affected weight.
• International carriage by road: the CMR limit per kilogramme of gross weight short or damaged.
• Warehousing and other services: the limits in our standard trading conditions, as stated in the Terms and Conditions of Carriage.

Consequential losses such as lost profit, lost production, penalty payments to your own customer, loss of market and reputational damage are excluded from all settlements unless we have agreed to accept them in writing before the shipment moved.

7. Exclusions

We cannot accept claims arising from the following, and we would rather set that out plainly here than discover it with you after a loss:

• Inadequate or unsuitable packing by the shipper, where our packing service was not used.
• Inherent vice, ordinary leakage, wastage, wear and tear, rust, oxidation or natural deterioration.
• Goods that were prohibited or restricted and not declared to us, including anything listed in our Prohibited Items Policy.
• Values, quantities or descriptions declared inaccurately at booking.
• Delay caused by customs, quarantine, security or port authority action, weather, strikes, war, civil unrest or any other event outside our reasonable control.
• Loss or damage discovered after the goods have been repacked, moved on or disposed of, where inspection is no longer possible.
• Electronic data, cash, bearer instruments, jewellery and similar items unless carried under a specifically agreed high-value arrangement.

8. How refunds and settlements are paid

Approved refunds and settlements are paid within 10 working days of acceptance, by the method used for the original payment or by bank transfer to the account we hold on file for you. We do not ask for new bank details by email, and we will never ask you to confirm payment information over the phone; if you receive such a request it is not from us and should be reported to the freight desk immediately.

Where an account is open, you may choose to have a settlement applied as a credit against future freight instead of taking a payment, which is usually faster. Settlements are made in the currency of the original invoice, and any bank charges on our side are ours to absorb.

9. If you disagree with our decision

Ask for the file. We will send you the transport documents, the load photographs, the carrier’s response and the reasoning behind the decision, and a manager who was not involved in the original assessment will review it. This review is free and does not affect any legal rights or time limits.

• Stage one: your named specialist, who will re-examine the evidence within 2 working days.
• Stage two: the claims and quality manager, who responds in writing within 5 working days.
• Stage three: the operations director, within 10 working days, including an offer of independent survey where the facts are genuinely contested.

If we still cannot agree, we will not hide behind procedure. We will tell you which forum applies under the Terms and Conditions of Carriage and, where the sum in dispute is modest, we will normally propose splitting the cost of an independent surveyor rather than litigating.

10. Preventing the next one

Claims are a symptom. Each quarter we review every claim by cause, lane and packaging type, and we come back to affected customers with specific recommendations: a different pallet specification, a stronger inner carton, a change of route to avoid a problematic transhipment, or a temperature set-point adjusted for the season. This costs you nothing and it is the part of the claims process we care most about.

11. Contact

To start a claim, ask about a refund or query an invoice, email info@transatlantic-expres.com or call the freight desk on +1 507 201 9651, which is answered 24 hours a day. Written correspondence may be sent to Transatlantic Express, 120 Harbour Point, New York, NY 10004, United States, or to our European gateway at 44 Waalhaven Quay, 3089 Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Please quote your shipment reference in the first message. If you would rather talk it through before putting anything in writing, call the desk and ask for the claims team; nobody there is measured on how few claims they accept.

12. Related policies

This policy does not stand on its own. Read it with the three documents below, because the limits and exclusions above are set by our trading terms and by what you were permitted to ship in the first place.

• Terms & Conditions — the liability regime, the cargo cover options and the payment terms that determine what a settlement can be worth.
• Prohibited & Restricted Items Policy — goods on that list are not covered, so a claim on an undeclared restricted item will be declined regardless of the evidence supplied.
• Privacy Policy — how we handle the photographs, invoices and correspondence you send us as claim evidence, and how long the claim file is retained.

To open a claim, write to info@transatlantic-expres.com with the reference number in the subject line, or use the contact form and choose the claims desk.