CASE DIGEST (Transportation Law): Vlasons vs. Court of Appeals

 VLASONS SHIPPING, INC vs. CA and NATIONAL STEEL CORPORATION

 [G.R. No. 112350. December 12, 1997]

 NATIONAL STEEL CORPORATION vs. CA and VLASONS SHIPPING, INC.

 [G.R. No. 112287. December 12, 1997]

FACTS:

National Steel Corporation (NSC) as Charterer and defendant Vlasons Shipping, Inc. (VSI) as Owner, entered into a Contract of Voyage Charter Hire (Affreightment) whereby NSC hired VSI’s vessel, the MV ‘VLASONS I’ to make one (1) voyage to load steel products at Iligan City and discharge them at North Harbor, Manila. VSI carried passengers or goods only for those it chose under a “special contract of charter party.”

The vessel arrived with the cargo in Manila, but when the vessel’s three (3) hatches containing the shipment were opened, nearly all the skids of tin plates and hot rolled sheets were allegedly found to be wet and rusty.

NSC filed its complaint against defendant before the CFI wherein it claimed that it sustained losses as a result of the “act, neglect and default of the master and crew in the management of the vessel as well as the want of due diligence on the part of the defendant to make the vessel seaworthy … -- all in violation of defendant’s undertaking under their Contract of Voyage Charter Hire.”

In its answer, defendant denied liability for the alleged damage claiming that the MV ‘VLASONS I’ was seaworthy in all respects for the carriage of plaintiff’s cargo; that said vessel was not a ‘common carrier’ inasmuch as she was under voyage charter contract with the plaintiff as charterer under the charter party.

The trial court ruled in favor of VSI; it was affirmed by the CA on appeal.

ISSUE:

Whether or not Vlazons is a private carrier.

HELD:

Yes.

At the outset, it is essential to establish whether VSI contracted with NSC as a common carrier or as a private carrier. The resolution of this preliminary question determines the law, standard of diligence and burden of proof applicable to the present case.

Article 1732 of the Civil Code defines a common carrier as “persons, corporations, firms or associations engaged in the business of carrying or transporting passengers or goods or both, by land, water, or air, for compensation, offering their services to the public.” It has been held that the true test of a common carrier is the carriage of passengers or goods, provided it has space, for all who opt to avail themselves of its transportation service for a fee. A carrier which does not qualify under the above test is deemed a private carrier. “Generally, private carriage is undertaken by special agreement and the carrier does not hold himself out to carry goods for the general public. The most typical, although not the only form of private carriage, is the charter party, a maritime contract by which the charterer, a party other than the shipowner, obtains the use and service of all or some part of a ship for a period of time or a voyage or voyages.”

In the instant case, it is undisputed that VSI did not offer its services to the general public. As found by the Regional Trial Court, it carried passengers or goods only for those it chose under a “special contract of charter party.” As correctly concluded by the Court of Appeals, the MV Vlasons I “was not a common but a private carrier.” Consequently, the rights and obligations of VSI and NSC, including their respective liability for damage to the cargo, are determined primarily by stipulations in their contract of private carriage or charter party. Recently, in Valenzuela Hardwood and Industrial Supply, Inc., vs. Court of Appeals and Seven Brothers Shipping Corporation, the Court ruled:

“ x x x [I]n a contract of private carriage, the parties may freely stipulate their duties and obligations which perforce would be binding on them. Unlike in a contract involving a common carrier, private carriage does not involve the general public. Hence, the stringent provisions of the Civil Code on common carriers protecting the general public cannot justifiably be applied to a ship transporting commercial goods as a private carrier. Consequently, the public policy embodied therein is not contravened by stipulations in a charter party that lessen or remove the protection given by law in contracts involving common carriers.”