NOT REPORTABLE IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA … · IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA...
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NOT REPORTABLE
IN THE HIGH COURT OF SOUTH AFRICA
KWAZULU-NATAL DIVISION, PIETERMARITZBURG
(EXERCISING ITS ADMIRALTY JURISDICTION)
APPEAL CASE NO.: AR159/2019
GRINDROD INTERMODAL, a Division
of Grindrod (South Africa) (Pty) Limited APPELLANT
and
THE CARGO carried in containers listed
in Annexure “A” to the Summons (namely,
SCRAP METAL) RESPONDENT
_____________________________________________________________
Order _____________________________________________________________
The following order is made:
1. The appeal is upheld with costs.
2. The order of the court a quo allowing the respondent’s claims in
reconvention is set aside, and replaced with the following order:
“The first defendant’s claims in reconvention are dismissed
with costs.”
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_
J U D G M E N T ______________________________________________________________
Olsen J (Chetty J et Jikela AJ concurring)
[1] This appeal comes to us with the leave of the Supreme Court of
Appeal. It is an appeal against part of the judgment handed down by the trial
court exercising its admiralty jurisdiction in a case in which the appellant was
the plaintiff. The first defendant was the cargo carried in containers listed in a
schedule which was annexed to the original summons issued to commence
the action. (It is common cause that the owner of the cargo contained in all
but three of those containers was a company known as Arctocel (Proprietary)
Limited.) There were two further defendants originally cited but the claims
against them were not pursued and they do not feature in these appeal
proceedings. For the sake of convenience, I will refer to the appellant as
‘Grindrod’ and the respondent as ‘Arctocel’.
[2] Grindrod operates a container depot where shipping containers are
stored near to the port of Durban. Arctocel conducts business as a scrap
metal exporter. It buys up scrap metal and exports it, mainly through the port
of Durban, and principally to India.
[3] Scrap metal bought by Arctocel is loaded into containers by the
supplier of the scrap. Arctocel hires the containers, principally but not
exclusively from a company known as Mediterranean Shipping Company
(“MSC”). Arctocel engages the services of transport operators to carry the
containers directly to the port where it is supposed to be deposited or stacked
prior to loading onto the vessel engaged to ship the containers to the export
destination. The transport operator which features most prominently in this
case is a company known as Darreb Logistics & Distribution Solutions (Pty)
Limited (“Darreb”). (Other transporters were involved, but for the purposes of
this case it is convenient, and not prejudicial to either party, simply to regard
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the relevant transport operator as Darreb.) For reasons which were not
disclosed in the evidence placed before the trial court, a number of containers
which Darreb was supposed to deliver to the port at Durban were in fact
delivered by it to Grindrod’s depot where they were held in terms of storage
contracts. It is that conduct on the part of Darreb which gave rise to the
disputes between Grindrod and Arctocel which the trial court was asked to
resolve.
[4] As plaintiff Grindrod sued for storage charges of a little over R1 million.
That claim was premised principally upon the proposition that Darreb acted as
agent of the owner of the cargo in concluding contracts of storage with
Grindrod. The claim was dismissed by the trial court and that decision is not
subject to appeal.
[5] The appeal concerns counterclaims made by Arctocel against
Grindrod. There were two. The first was for payment of some R1.9 million
said to be the value of the cargo contained in one of the containers allegedly
deposited with Grindrod which, Arctocel claimed, Grindrod had lost. That
container bore number “MEDU 3033700”. (For the sake of convenience it will
be referred to as “Medu 303”). The second counterclaim was for some
US$168 000 being a demurrage claim alleged to have been made by MSC
against Arctocel which Arctocel was bound to meet only because, it claimed,
Grindrod withheld possession of the containers containing Arctocel’s cargo
from MSC. These two counterclaims were upheld by the trial court and they
are the subjects of this appeal. (The evidence tendered on behalf of Arctocel
was that the claim for demurrage made by MSC was eventually settled at
R1.5 million and judgment was granted in that sum.)
[6] This appeal is principally one on fact. This court must be guided by the
principles set out succinctly in the judgment of Davis AJ in R v Dhlumayo and
Another 1948 (2) SA 677 (A) at 705 – 706. In relation especially to the
alleged loss of Medu 303 there are conflicts of fact which are incapable of
being resolved upon the footing that one or the other of the versions is the
product of mistake.
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[7] The issues which arise in connection with the two claims are different.
The claims must be dealt with separately. However, a resolution of the
credibility issues which arose at trial is an exercise bound up with a
consideration of probabilities, and the reliability of the evidence on one of the
claims may affect the assessment of evidence tendered on the other.
THE FACTS AND DISPUTES RELATING TO MEDU 303
[8] A Mr Jhunjhunwala was the only witness called to give evidence on
behalf of Arctocel. He is a citizen of India and at the time was employed as
the Managing Director of Arctocel. Grindrod’s witnesses gave evidence first,
Grindrod being the plaintiff in the main claim. In the result the evidence led on
behalf of the party bearing the onus of proof in the counterclaims followed the
defence case on the counterclaims.
[9] In his evidence in chief Mr Jhunjhunwala gave an overview of the mode
of business followed by Arctocel. Most of the scrap metal bought by the
company was sourced in Johannesburg where Arctocel dealt with some 70 or
80 different scrap metal dealers. Transport operators would deposit a
container at the premises of the scrap metal supplier which would load the
container with scrap metal of whatever type, which had already been presold
by Arctocel to its export customers. Once loaded the container was to be
transported to the port where it was supposed to be stacked. Arctocel
arranged the carriage and directed the transport operator as to where the
containers were to be stacked.
[10] It is Arctocel’s case that on or about 13 August 2012, and in terms of a
contract concluded between Arctocel and Able Wise Trading 47 (Pty) Limited
(“Able Wise”) the latter sold to Arctocel some 27,98 tons of metal described as
“gun metal solids” and loaded it into Medu 303. This happened in
Johannesburg. Gun metal solids are a particularly expensive and valuable
cargo. The price for this container load, according to Arctocel, was R1 913
832. A container load of ordinary scrap metal would only be worth some R70
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000 to R80 000. The pleadings concerning the loading of this container and
concerning its content are not models of clarity. In the counterclaim Arctocel
pleaded that Medu 303 was not returned by Grindrod to Arctocel, and
asserted that the value of the missing cargo contained in Medu 303 was the
amount stated immediately above. It referred in that regard to an invoice from
Able Wise. The allegations in that particular paragraph were denied. Having
regard to the way the trial was conducted, and to the arguments which have
been raised before us, the only logical reading of the pleadings reveals that
Arctocel was obliged to prove
(a) that the container was loaded with the gun metal solids referred to in
the invoice annexed to the counterclaim; and
(b) that the value of that cargo was the amount mentioned above.
We were advised from the Bar that although it does not appear from the
record, at the close of the trial Grindrod conceded that if it was found that the
container was indeed loaded with the stated tonnage of gun metal solids,
then that cargo would have had the value attributed to it by Arctocel.
[11] According to Mr Jhunjhunwala, in the latter part of 2012 there was a
transport strike of some kind which disrupted goods transport between
Johannesburg and Durban. As I understand the record of the evidence,
which is far from clear and logical in this regard, this was tendered as an
explanation for a state of confusion which arose in the offices of Arctocel over
the fact that a number of its containers which left Johannesburg did not get to
the stacks at the Durban Harbour. According to Mr Jhunjhunwala this
problem was only addressed, certainly in any meaningful way, in December.
It is common cause that on or about 28 or 29 December 2012 a
representative of Arctocel (not Mr Jhunjhunwala) telephoned Mr Burton
Naidoo (who was in charge of Grindrod’s terminal in Durban which features
in this case) to find out if any of Arctocel’s cargo was at that facility. The
enquiry was as to whether there were containers deposited there by Darreb.
Mr Naidoo had no knowledge at all of Arctocel and informed the caller that he
should contact Darreb.
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[12] According to Mr Jhunjhunwala on or about 8 January 2013 he
telephoned Mr Naidoo telling him that Arctocel owned the cargo in whichever
containers Darreb had deposited at Grindrod. Mr Naidoo’s response was
that a large amount was owing to Grindrod in respect of the storage of
whatever containers and cargo were on the premises. On or about 10
January 2013 Arctocel sent a list of containers to Grindrod (Mr Naidoo) but
for some reason that list is not available. On 28 January 2013 MSC sent a
list of 73 of its containers claiming delivery of them from Grindrod in order to
avoid vindicatory proceedings. Medu 303 was on that list.
[13] A number of lists of containers featured in the account of events. All
of them emanated either from Arctocel or MSC or from both those entities
acting in concert. The question as to why these lists were different was not
really explored, presumably because it was not regarded as material to the
issue as to what happened to Medu 303.
[14] According to Mr Jhunjhunwala on 28 January 2013, and in the
company of a Mr Todhi who was an employee of Arctocel, Mr Jhunjhunwala
went to Grindrod’s facility armed with a list of 103 containers. It is apparent
that this list was the product of some consultation between Mr Jhunjhunwala
and MSC. The purpose was to establish whether the listed containers were
stored at Grindrod’s facility. According to Mr Jhunjhunwala he and Mr Todhi
parked outside Grindrod’s premises and walked through the gate into the
premises unchallenged by any security guards. They went to a building
called the tracking office in which two people were on duty. The evidence led
on behalf of Grindrod establishes that it is the duty of those in the tracking
office to make the requisite entries in Grindrod’s computerised tracking
system when containers enter and leave the premises. It is possible, using
the computer in the tracking office, to access the computer database which
stores the information concerning the entry and departure of containers into
and from the facility. According to Mr Jhunjhunwala he requested the
employees in the tracking office to use that computer to determine whether
there was a record of each of the 103 containers on the list. According to
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him Grindrod’s employees had no difficulty in agreeing to do so and the data
base was examined as Mr Jhunjhunwala and Mr Todhi read out the numbers
of the containers one by one. The employees told Mr Jhunjhunwala and Mr
Todhi whether they had any record of the container at all, and if so whether it
was in the depot or had already left the depot. (It was Mr Jhunjhunwala’s
evidence that he and Mr Todhi stood behind the person operating the
computer, from where they could see the screen.) According to Mr
Jhunjhunwala this exercise revealed that 72 of the containers on his list were
still in the Grindrod facility. Amongst them was Medu 303.
[15] Grindrod called their two employees who were on duty on the day, and
who would have dealt with this enquiry from Mr Jhunjhunwala. They were
Messrs Kissoon and Munsamy. Their evidence was to the effect that it would
not have been their job to attend to any query like that; their job is to track
vehicles and containers actually entering and leaving the facility; they were
not ever asked to check and trace 103 containers, and did not do so. If Mr
Jhunjhunwala and Mr Todhi had arrived with the request that they should do
so they would have been directed to the administrative office where such
queries are handled. According to Messrs Kissoon and Munsamy they would
not have had the time to undertake an exercise like that. A clerk deals with
approximately 100 container movements a day. Mr Kissoon confirmed that
they were aware (presumably around that time) that Darrreb’s account had
not been paid and that those containers would not be permitted to leave the
facility, which suggests that he and Mr Munsamy would not have forgotten a
request to research the whereabouts of 103 containers falling into that
category.
[16] According to Mr Jhunjhunwala after the 103 containers on the list had
been checked on the database he requested the tracking clerks to assist him
to physically examine the containers. They said they did not have time to do
so, but that he and Mr Todhi could go into the yard and check a few. (That
was not put to Messrs. Kissoon and Munsamy in cross examination. It was
put to them that one of them had gone into the yard to assist with the
physical verification, which they denied.) According to Mr Jhunjhunwala his
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intention was to check high value containers, but he did not want to disclose
that to Grindrod employees. In short, one of the containers he found and
identified was Medu 303.
[17] It is the case for Grindrod that Medu 303 had never entered the
Grindrod facility. It never featured on the computerised system. There is
simply no record of it, and there never was a record of it.
[18] Another list of containers emerged. There were 86 containers on it.
[19] According to Mr Naidoo he had referred the matter of Darreb’s account
and the demand for MSC’s containers to head office. Grindrod consulted its
attorneys who gave advice that the cargo lodged in the containers should be
arrested and action commenced in rem for Grindrod’s claim. The warrant of
arrest was issued on 1 February 2013. What was to be arrested was the
cargo “comprising of scrap metal contained in the containers listed in
Annexure A”. Annexure “A” was the list of some 86 containers including
Medu 303. The warrant authorised the sheriff “to arrest and keep under
arrest the property named herein”. The sheriff was required to serve the
warrant and return the original to the registrar with the sheriff’s return of
service. Mr Naidoo did not personally deal with the attorney conducting the
litigation. His evidence was to the effect that the list sent to head office, and
used by the attorneys in applying for the warrant and issuing summons, had
not at the time been checked against Grindrod’s computerised tracking
system. It is clear on the evidence that if, as contended by Grindrod, Medu
303 had not ever been on its premises, and did not feature in its tracking
system, Grinrod’s left hand did not know what its right was doing. This
reflects a breakdown in communication between the facility presided over by
Mr Naidoo and head office. Whether that was through negligence or
otherwise is not a question that requires an answer in this case.
[20] The sheriff worked at Grindrod’s premises over three days. His
purpose was to attach the cargo by affixing the warrant of arrest to each of
the affected containers. Thirty nine containers were found on 1 February
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2013, 37 on 4 February 2013 and the remainder, save for Medu 303, on 5
February 2013. The return of service for 5 February 2013 records the
following.
‘The balance of the containers were located with the exception of container Medu
3033700 which Mr Naidoo has no trace of.’
[21] It is common cause on the pleadings that the parties then concluded an
agreement in terms of which the arrested cargo was to be released against
the provision of a bank guarantee in a format stipulated by Grindrod’s
attorneys. The guarantee was provided but Medu 303 was not released
because, according to Grindrod, it did not have it in the first place. The
release warrant was expressed in the same terms as the warrant of arrest. It
related to the cargo lodged in the containers listed in the same Annexure “A”.
[22] Both at trial and before us Grindrod’s concession was that if the court
found that it did in fact have Medu 303 on its premises, then it would be liable
to compensate Arctocel for whatever was proved to be the cargo contained in
Medu 303. Arctocel’s argument was that upon a proper construction of the
agreement for the release of containers against the provision of the
guarantee, even if it was correct that Grindrod never had Medu 303 in its
facility, it was nevertheless obliged to deliver it up to Arctocel, and to pay
compensation if it failed to do so. That issue turns on a proper construction
of the agreement, and possibly also on Grindrod’s plea of rectification.
THE FACTS AND DISPUTES RELATING TO THE CLAIM FOR
DEMURRAGE
[23] Arctocel pleaded that on 9th January 2013, Mr Jhunjhunwala
telephoned Mr Naidoo to tell him that 84 containers held by Grindrod
belonged to MSC, that Arctocel had a contract of lease with MSC in respect
of those containers and was liable to pay demurrage because of their
continued detention, and that both MSC and Arctocel required the immediate
release of the containers. In its plea, Grindrod admitted the call and having
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received information, but did not admit that the information conveyed was
true and correct.
[24] Arctocel pleaded that Grindrod owed it a legal duty arising at common
law, and confirmed by s 5(4) of the Admiralty Jurisdiction Regulation Act,
1983, to make reasonable enquiries to establish the truth of the information
conveyed during the call, and to refrain from continuing to store the
containers (and to refrain from arresting them), something which had to be
done within one day. Those allegations were denied by Grindrod. Arctocel
went on to plead that instead of releasing the containers, Grindrod arrested
them, and only subsequently released them on or about 7 February 2013
against provision of security.
[25] The allegations thus far mentioned under the present heading are
confusingly at odds with certain facts, which were either common cause at
the trial or not capable of being seriously disputed. The first and most
obvious error in the pleading lies in the fact that the containers were never
arrested. The cargo contained in each container was arrested. The second
contradiction with the facts is that it is abundantly clear that Arctocel’s
demands for delivery of the containers were in fact demands for delivery of
the containers and the cargo they contained. It is clear from the evidence that
MSC and Arctocel were working together. The conclusion is irresistible that
such demands as MSC made for the return of their containers were intended
also to apply pressure for the release of the cargo as well. The distinction
between the cargo and the containers was readily apparent to Grindrod’s
attorneys, who informed Arctocel on 1 February 2013 (the day the arrest
warrant was issued), that the containers would be unpacked and made
available for collection by the owners of them. That offer was declined by
Arctocel which undertook instead to provide security so that the cargo could
be released in the containers in which it was lodged.
[26] Arctocel’s pleadings on the demurrage claim are to the effect that
Grindrod could have established MSC’s ownership of the containers within a
day of the telephone call of 9 January 2013, and that Grinrod ought
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accordingly to have surrendered the containers on 10 January. Having failed
to do so Grinrod was liable to compensate Arctocel for demurrage charges it
incurred from 10 January 2013 to 8 February 2013. It is pleaded that
Grindrod wilfully or negligently breached a legal duty to make enquiries,
which would have involved the simple expedient of telephoning a responsible
person at MSC in order to establish ownership of the containers in question;
or otherwise by failing to take “reasonable and necessary actions timeously
to confirm that there was no reasonable and probable cause to continue to
detain and/or arrest the said containers.” All of those allegations were denied
by Grindrod. However, the evidence does not reveal that Grindrod was at the
time concerned at all that the containers were owned by MSC or by some
other party. That was not the issue. As to the remaining denials, they left
Arctocel having to prove inter alia that as a matter of fact, MSC raised the
demurrage claim of $ 2030 for each container in respect of 29 days’
detention from 10 January 2013 to 8 February 2013; and that the claim for
demurrage was actually paid.
THE JUDGMENT OF THE COURT A QUO
[27] The findings of the learned judge in the court a quo on the issues
arising out of the counterclaims are implicit in the orders which were made. In
so far as the alleged loss of Medu 303 is concerned, the learned judge found
it proved that Medu 303 was in the possession of Grindrod, but also held that
even if it was not, the contract concluded between the parties when it was
agreed that monetary security would substitute for the detention of the cargo
obliged Grindrod to return Medu 303 even if it never had been in Grindrod’s
possession. Without going into the evidence available as to the content of
Medu 303, the learned judge accepted that it contained the expensive cargo
claimed by Arctocel to have being lost.
[28] In my view a fair reading of the judgment reveals that the findings with
regard to Medu 303 were based upon the proposition that Mr Jhunjhunwala
was a credible witness whose evidence had to be accepted. This credibility
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finding was not accompanied or informed by an assessment of the
probabilities. For instance, when assessing the evidence of Mr Jhunjhunwala
that he had gone to Grindrod’s premises and got the tracking clerks to search
through the computerised system for 103 containers (including Medu 303),
the learned judge failed properly to consider the evidence of the tracking
clerks and the probabilities concerning Grindrod’s claim that Medu 303 never
ever featured on Grindrod’s computerised tracking system and records.
[29] No authority is required for the proposition that civil cases are decided
on the probabilities. The correct approach when there are conflicting versions
in a civil dispute was set out as follows in National Employers’ General
Insurance vs Jagers 1984 (4) SA 437 (E) at 440 D-G.
‘In a civil case the onus is obviously not as heavy as it is in a criminal case,
but nevertheless where the onus rests on the plaintiff as in the present case,
and where there are two mutually destructive stories, he can only succeed if
he satisfies the court on a preponderance of probabilities that his version is
true and accurate and therefore acceptable, and that the other version
advanced by the defendant is therefore false or mistaken and falls to be
rejected. In deciding whether that evidence is true or not, the court will weigh
up and test the plaintiff’s allegations against the general probabilities. The
estimate of the credibility of a witness will therefore be inextricably bound up
with a consideration of the probabilities of the case and, if the balance of
probabilities favours the plaintiff, then the court will accept his version as
being probably true. If, however, the probabilities are evenly balanced in the
sense that they do not favour the plaintiff’s case any more than they do the
defendant’s, the plaintiff can only succeed if the court nevertheless believes
him and is satisfied that his evidence is true and that the defendant’s version
is false’.
At page 440 I, the learned judge added the following:
‘It does not seem to me to be desirable for a court first to consider the
question of the credibility of the witnesses as the trial judge did in the present
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case, and then, having concluded that enquiry, to consider the probabilities of
the case, as though the two aspects constitute separate fields of enquiry.’
[30] I am satisfied that on a fair reading of the judgment, the learned judge a
quo found Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence to be credible, and therefore decisive
of the case, without taking the measure of it in conjunction with an
assessment of the probabilities. In addition, she made only a cursory
examination of the qualities and implications of the evidence tendered by
Grindrod, especially in connection with the crucial issue as to whether Medu
303 was ever on Grindrod’s premises.
[31] I am also of the view that the learned judge a quo misdirected herself
by giving insufficient attention to the question of the sufficiency of the
evidence provided by Arctocel. Concerning the quality of the evidence
required to discharge an onus, the observations of De Villiers JP in Union
Market Agency Ltd vs Glick and Co. 1927 OPD 285 at 288 are of some
importance in the resolution of the disputed facts placed before the court a
quo.
‘I have on a previous occasion made a remark to the effect that, when once it
is established that the onus lies upon a given party, that onus cannot be
discharged by any sort of evidence, but only by a certain ‘quantum’, i.e, by
evidence which, having regard to the circumstances of a particular case, is
sufficiently substantial, detailed, reliable and satisfactory.’
(See also Sigournay vs Gillbanks 1960 (2) SA 552 (A) at 558H.)
An assessment of all the evidence is required in order to reach a conclusion
as to whether the requisite quantum of proof is present. When there is a gap
or shortfall in the evidence, the insufficiency may have a bearing on the
assessment of probabilities. In the present matter there are obvious gaps in
the evidence tendered by Arctocel. The issue as to the implications of these
was not brought to account and considered in the judgment of the court a quo.
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[32] For these reasons, and for others still to be considered, this court must
reconsider the factual findings made by the trial court and reach a conclusion
on the record as to whether the onus on Arctocel was discharged.
THE CLAIM FOR MEDU 303
[33] An account of the role of Medu 303 in this case must start at the
premises of Able Wise. According to Mr Jhunjhunwala, Medu 303 was to be
loaded by Able Wise with a cargo of ordinary scrap metal and an invoice for
that ordinary scrap was issued and presumably delivered by Able Wise to
Arctocel. It was realised, before Medu 303 was loaded, that it should be used
for the far more expensive cargo of gun metal solids. The amount of the first
invoice for ordinary scrap would accordingly have been credited to Arctocel’s
account and replaced with a debit of some R1,9 million for the gun metal
solids loaded into Medu 303.
[34] Mr Jhunjhunwala has no personal knowledge of the alleged fact that
Medu 303 was loaded with gun metal solids. According to his evidence
Arctocel itself (presumably through an employee or other assessor) checks
the cargo at the point of loading in order to verify that what is put in the
container meets the requirements of the contract between Arctocel and its
supplier, in this case Able Wise. One would think that there were therefore two
sources of direct evidence which could have been led to prove that Medu 303
was loaded with cargo worth some R1,9 million as opposed to cargo worth
about R70 000, which was the charge on the first invoice. No such evidence
was called from Able Wise or the person who verified the cargo. Neither was
any explanation tendered for its absence. Arctocel’s counterclaim for the
alleged lost cargo in Medu 303 is pleaded in a way which called for the invoice
in respect of that cargo to be annexed to the pleading. The counterclaim was
delivered in February 2014. The loading of Medu 303 is alleged to have taken
place at the premises of Able Wise in August 2012. The invoice originally
supplied with the counterclaim was dated 13 August 2013. That invoice was
later substituted as an annexure by yet a third invoice relating to Medu 303,
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now dated 13 August 2012. When asked to explain this, Mr Jhunjhunwala
said the following:
‘The reason with that was because we showed the seller that you have
supplied us with the material or this container on 13 August. Our inspectors
have inspected it and then you have given us a previous invoice of steel
which we then changed, so the date should be 2012. They then read their
records and then confirmed to us that it was the formatting due to which there
was a confusion and they had now corrected that to say 2012 instead of
2013.’
No one from Able Wise was called to give the direct evidence required to
confirm this hearsay tendered by Mr Jhunjhunwala. (Perhaps such a witness
could also have dealt with the loading of the container, if Mr Jhunjhunwala’s
version is correct.) The error attributed to whoever prepared invoices for Able
Wise is strange indeed. One is accustomed, or certainly used to be
accustomed, to seeing a previous year’s date appearing on a document
prepared early in a year (in January or perhaps February). But, upon the
assumption that a computerised bookkeeping system will accept such errors
and entries, it is difficult to see why anyone drawing up an invoice in August
2012, would date it August 2013. Such an error is an improbable one and Mr
Jhunjhunwala’s hearsay explanation does not disturb the probabilities on the
issue.
[35] The two invoices for some R1,9 million referred to above were the only
documentary evidence tendered by Arctocel to support Mr Jhunjhunwala’s
oral evidence that Arctocel bought the gun metal solids from Able Wise. Mr
Jhunjhunwala’s evidence was to the effect that Arctocel made lump sum
payments to Able Wise from time to time, as it were to keep its account with
Able Wise up to date. The effect of this, he said, was that no particular
payment coincided with the precise amount allegedly paid for the gun metal
solids. When pressed as to why he had not produced a running statement of
the account, which should reflect the invoice for that cargo loaded into Medu
303 in August 2012, Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence was that Able Wise did not
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send out statements of account. The business between the two companies
was only recorded on a ledger. That strikes me as a strange and improbable
way of doing business. A representative of Able Wise could presumably have
solved the problem if Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence was true. Atrcotel’s own
ledger could have been produced from its records to illustrate the debit
allegedly raised against it by Able Wise for the gun metal solids.
[36] In the circumstances there is no documentary evidence, when such
was called for, such as would have appeared from a statement of account or a
copy of the relevant ledger (be it Arctocel’s ledger or that of Able Wise):
(a) to establish that a credit was passed on the account of Arctocel
by Able Wise for the invoice of some R70 000 for ordinary scrap
intended to be but not loaded into Medu 303;
(b) reflecting the debit of some R1,9 million in August 2012 in
respect of gun metal solids; and
(c) showing the allocation of moneys paid by Arctocel to the debit of
R1,9 million allegedly raised for the gun metal solids.
[37] The learned judge in the court a quo classified such evidence as was
tendered by Mr Jhunjhunwala concerning the loading of Medu 303 with gun
metal solids as ‘undisputed’. She erred in that regard. The learned judge failed
to take into account that the facts that Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence was
hearsay, that the invoice ultimately relied upon was or might be of doubtful
origin, and that accounting records and documents reasonably to be expected
were not produced, raised the question as to whether Arctocel had tendered
evidence of the requisite quality to discharge the onus of proof on it to prove a
matter peculiarly within the knowledge of itself and its prime supplier. In my
view the evidence fell short of what was required. What is more, the failure to
present that aspect of the case properly through direct evidence supported by
obviously relevant documents lends no support to the argument that Mr
Jhunjhunwala’s evidence should be accepted as credible or reliable.
[38] I turn to the issue as to whether Medu 303 was ever on Grindrod’s
premises. It is common cause that the container featured on the list annexed
17
to the application for a warrant of arrest of cargo contained in containers, and
on the release warrant. For reasons already discussed that does not take the
enquiry very far.
[39] The evidence tendered by Arctocel is that of Mr Jhunjhunwala to the
effect that, in the company of a Mr Todhi, he visited Grindrod’s premises on
28 January, 2013, got the tracking clerks to confirm, inter alia, that Medu 303
featured on Grindrod’s database, and actually saw Medu 303 when he went
into the yard to check on some of the containers that were there. All of that is
disputed, and Mr Todhi was not called to corroborate Mr Jhunjhunwala’s
evidence. (Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence was that Mr Todhi was not called
because he had transferred to Indonesia).
[40] Before taking a closer look at the evidence tendered by Grindrod in
support of its contention that Medu 303 was not at any time on its premises, it
is necessary to mention some other respects in which the judge a quo
misdirected herself in considering this issue.
(a) The learned judge mischaracterised the basis upon which the
evidence of Messrs Kissoon and Munsamy fell to be considered.
Of Mr Kissoon, she said that he did not recall whether he was on
duty on 28 January 2013. In fact, Mr Naidoo’s evidence proved
that Mr Kissoon was on duty. Of Mr Munsamy, (and presumably
by implication of Mr Kissoon also) she said that he did not recall
an event where two men came to the tracking office to look up
103 containers on the computerised system. That
mischaracterises the evidence, because it is clear that both
these witnesses were denying the occurrence of an event which
they would have remembered if it had occurred.
(b) The judgment refers to an exchange between counsel for
Grindrod and Mr Munsamy where the latter was asked whether,
had he been asked to look up 103 containers, he would have
done so. The answer was in the negative. The judge took this
evidence to corroborate Mr Jhunjhunwala’s version that none of
18
the two tracking clerks on duty that day were prepared to assist
with a physical verification of the containers. But the passage of
evidence quoted has to do with looking up the containers on the
computer; not with a physical verification of the presence of
containers in the yard.
(c) The judge speculated along the lines that working on the basis
of what she described as the “reliable evidence of Mr
Jhunjhunwala”, Medu 303 could have been lost or stolen from
the Grindrod’s premises at any time between 28 January 2013
and the third day of the sheriff’s work at the premises (5
February 2013). That was not an issue before the court. It was
not pertinently raised.
[41] The judge held that Mr Jhunjhunwala’s version as to the presence of
Medu 303 was corroborated by what she called “joinder affidavits” delivered
on behalf of the second and third defendants. Those affidavits are not in the
record before us. Nevertheless, whatever they contained was not evidence
before the trial court.
[42] The judge reasoned that because Mr Naidoo never accompanied the
sheriff over the three days it took him to execute the warrant, there was no
direct evidence to contradict Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence that Medu 303 was
on Grindrod’s premises on 28 January 2013. This line of reasoning overlooks
the fact that the evidence tendered on behalf of Grindrod was to the effect that
if Medu 303 had ever entered or left its premises, that would have been
reflected inter alia in the computerised records; and that there was no
computerised record of the presence of Medu 303. That is direct evidence, as
is the evidence of the two tracking clerks. In addition, there is the direct
evidence of the sheriff’s return to the effect that Medu 303 was not to be found
on the first, fourth and fifth of February 2013. Section 43 (2) of the Superior
Courts Act, 2013 (like Section 36 (2) of the Supreme Court Act, 1959) is to the
effect that the return of the sheriff or deputy sheriff shall be prima facie
evidence of the matters therein stated. The return indicates that Medu 303
was not found. There was no need for the sheriff to be called unless there was
19
evidence tendered to prove that Medu 303 was on Grindrod’s premises on the
days in question.
[43] I turn to the evidence led on behalf of Grindrod on the question as to
whether Medu 303 was on its premises. Mr Naidoo was in charge of the
terminal from 2012 to 2017. He described the system which governed the
entry and exit of containers from Grindrod’s facility.
[44] When a container enters the depot, it is stopped at the security point at
the gate. There a physical check of the container is made by the security
officials. The driver of the vehicle should have a delivery note or a delivery slip
which is examined to ensure that the container has arrived at the correct
facility. The container number is checked as is the seal number on the door of
the container. These details (as well as the name of the transport company,
the registration numbers of the horse and trailer, and the driver’s name) are
written into a document known as the inward gate register by the security
guard. The driver is then directed to the tracking office which is about 20
metres away.
[45] At the tracking office, the driver presents his delivery book or delivery
note and all the relevant details of the container are entered into the
computerised system. Once that is all done, the driver is directed by a yard
clerk to the offloading area where Grindrod unloads the container and places
it in a stack.
[46] When containers are to be removed, Grindrod would normally receive
advance notice of this. The truck would arrive and the driver would present his
book or delivery note to the security guard who would write down the details in
the gate register. The driver would be directed to the tracking office where he
would present his documents which would be checked against the tracker
system. There, assuming that the driver’s request coincides with the
information on the tracker system, the driver would be given a pick-up slip to
be handed to the yard clerk so that the container to be loaded could be
identified. On the way out, the vehicle would stop at security where a security
20
guard would check the container number, verify the seal number and endorse
it on the pickup slip, and check the container over for any damage. Once that
is done, the tracking clerk re-enters the picture and captures the relevant
details on the tracker system which would generate what is called an “outward
report”. The vehicle may then leave.
[47] From Mondays to Fridays a reconciliation is done between the
information recorded by the security guards at the security gate and the
tracker system. There are sometimes errors such as the omission of a letter or
number from the container number. These are rectified. (The reconciliation for
container movements over a weekend are dealt with on the following
Monday).
[48] All the documents to which Mr Naidoo had spoken were handed in after
this portion of his evidence was done. Those documents are not in the appeal
record. Counsel for the respondent placed on record when those documents
were handed in that no admission was made with regard to them. However,
Mr Naidoo’s evidence that Grindrod has no record of Medu 303 ever entering
or being upon its premises at the facility was not contradicted upon the footing
that the records handed in show otherwise.
[49] Mr Naidoo’s evidence was that there had been no thefts of containers
or cargo from the facility in question during the period of his stay there.
[50] Mr Kissoon was also taken briefly through Mr Naidoo’s description of
the process followed when containers enter or exit the premises. He was
asked what would happen if a person arrived at the tracking office asking for a
particular container to be looked up. His answer was that nothing would be
done without first establishing the identity of the requester and the alleged
relationship between the requester and the container. A check for a single
container could then be made at the tracking office. When asked what would
happen if somebody arrived with a similar request but relating to 103
containers, he said that he would not have done it and did not do it. When
asked why he would not have done it, his answer went as follows:
21
‘Because on the tracking we are a busy, very busy depot, so on a normal day
to day basis we do live tracking, so every truck that comes in and every truck
that goes out, every driver comes straight to me and everything is done
immediately, I will not have the time to check 103 containers. It is impossible’.
[51] Mr Kissoon was asked to make what might be called a “dock
identification” of Mr Jhunjhunwala who was in court at the time, and said that
he had never seen him before. He stated that it was impossible to delete a
container record from the computerised system.
[52] Under cross-examination, Mr Kissoon said that customers do not
normally come to the tracking office. During the day they would be sent to the
administrative office where there is a controller who would assist a customer.
It is only after hours that a particular customer with a particular request would
be dealt with at the tracking office. Mr Kissoon also stated that he
remembered that the containers deposited with Grindrod by Darreb had been
placed on hold and could not be released at that time. The effect of that was
that the trackers were not supposed to liaise with anybody with regard to the
containers, but to send any such person to the administration controller. He
pointed out that any customer inside the tracking office is not permitted to see
the computer screen “for confidential reasons where there is pricing and
container numbers and so on, and so forth, that they are not allowed to see at
all’. (That contradicts Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence as to how precisely he and
Mr Todhi observed the process of checking 103 container numbers). Mr
Kissoon said that there is a gate which keeps any outsider in his facility “on
the other side” in relation to his work area.
[53] Mr Munsamy’s evidence in chief was to much the same effect as that of
Mr Kissoon. He did not look up a list of 103 containers and would not have
done so if he had been asked to. It would have obstructed live tracking. His
estimate (and it cannot be anything but an uninformed estimate, on his own
evidence) was that it might take just under two hours to look up 103
22
containers. He confirmed, inter alia, that there is a barrier between outsiders
and the area where the tracking clerks work.
[54] Grindrod called Mr Adam Walker, who was the national IT manager for
Grindrod in 2012/2013. At the time of the trial he had worked for Grindrod in
the IT field for in excess of 11 years. The computerised system used by
Grindrod was called “Tracker” and it was a system developed “in-house” to
manage the depot component of Grindrods business.
[55] Mr Walker’s evidence was to the effect that an access code was
necessary to get access to the tracker application itself, and another to the
server holding the database. That server resides off-premises at a facility
known as the Grindrod Data Centre. He said that no one at the depot where
Medu 303 was allegedly stored would have access to the database except
through the tracker system.
[56] Mr Walker’s evidence was that he had done what he called “due
diligence checks” and that Medu 303 does not exist in any component of the
“data layer”, nor in any out-bound report that was sent from the system (by
which, as I understand it, he meant from the data server). He searched both
the tracker application and the database itself. When asked whether it might
be possible to delete a container from the database, he stated that it was
highly unlikely because of the cross referencing amongst a number of different
tables that are linked. Nobody at the depot could have accessed the database
for the purpose of deleting any entry. Under cross-examination Mr Walker
accepted the proposition that no computerised system is perfect.
[57] I have dealt with Grindrod’s evidence on the subject of there being no
record of Medu 303 generated by the procedures followed on the arrival and
departure of containers in somewhat more detail than is customary in an
appeal judgment. I have done so to illustrate the significance of the fact that it
was not evaluated in the judgment of the court a quo. The judge made no
credibility finding with regard to Grindrod’s witnesses, save for what may be
23
regarded as implicit in her finding that there was no reason to disbelieve Mr
Jhunjhunwala.
[58] A reading of the record of the evidence of these witnesses reveals no
reason not to believe them. On the contrary, their evidence appears cogent
and honest. These were not witnesses who were immersed in the litigation
and disputes, and who had applied their minds to the nuances of the case and
the dispute over the presence or absence of Medu 303. There is nothing
improbable about their accounts of the tracking system and mode of work.
There is nothing improbable about the proposition that Medu 303 was not at
any time on the database or on Grindrod’s premises. Arctocel provided no
evidence (documentary or otherwise) of the arrival of Medu 303 at Grindrod’s
premises, although it is difficult to see what might have been produced given
the fact that Arctocel had not asked Darreb to deliver the container to
Grindrod.
[59] Grindrod’s computerised system is obviously crucial to the proper
functioning of the depot. Putting aside other motivations for Grindrod to
ensure that the system functions correctly (eg its trade reputation), Grindrod’s
profit motive must have driven the establishment and operation of the system.
The arrival of a container generates charging for the handling and storage of
the container. If it is not entered the container will escape the accounts
system. The closing date for charges in respect of a container is generated
by recording the container’s departure. There is, in effect, a double entry
record system dealing with the entry and exit of containers. These are
reconciled. A complete audit of the containers on site is done four times a
year. Whilst Mr Naidoo conceded that in that process errors, of the type
already mentioned, which had slipped through the earlier daily cross-
checking, might be discovered, he was adamant that no container had been
lost from the premises during the period of his employment there.
[60] Considering the system described by Grindrod’s witnesses, one can
see that it is not impossible that the security guards, the tracking clerks and
the yard clerks could have been simultaneously persuaded (perhaps in
24
exchange for some personal advantage) to overlook the entry, storage and
removal of a container into, on and from Grindrod’s premises. That strikes me
as improbable. Equally improbable, it strikes me, is the notion that a container
could accidently enter the premises without being entered on the system, and
then accidentally leave the premises without the fact that there was no record
of its entry being noted in the tracking office. (Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence
that he and Mr Todhi entered the facility on foot without confronting security
guards has no bearing on the issue as to whether the arrival or departure of a
horse and trailer loaded with one or more containers might be missed.)
Likewise, why would an employee at the Grindrod Data Centre accept an
instruction to delete the records of a container from the database, assuming
that it could have been done without Mr Walker finding out, if not earlier, then
when he searched the database for the purpose of this case?
[61] None of this was taken into account by the judge a quo when she
decided that the outcome of the case rested on her decision to accept Mr
Jhunjhunwala’s evidence. In my view, on the issue of the presence of Medu
303 on Grindrod’s premises on 28 January 2013, Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence
does not establish Arctocel’s case on a balance of probability. A finding that
Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence was insufficient because Grinrod’s evidence was
more probable (which in my view would have been the correct conclusion)
would not have required of the judge a quo to declare that he was a
“deliberate liar and perjurer”. (See Body Corporate of Dumbarton Oaks vs
Faiga 1999 (1) SA 975 (SCA) at 979.) It is difficult to resist the conclusion that
the learned judge was impressed with Mr Jhunjhunwala’s demeanour, but that
cannot be the sole determinate of the outcome of the dispute.
[62] What remains to be dealt with is the learned judge’s finding that even if
Medu 303 was not on the premises, the terms of the contract concluded when
the release warrant was issued obliged Grindrod to produce Medu 303 to
Arctocel.
25
[63] The premise of Arctocel’s claim in contract for compensation for the
loss of Medu 303, even if it was not ever in the possession of Grindrod, is
summarised in paragraph 14 of the claim in reconvention.
‘Material terms of the Safekeeping and Release Agreement, expressly,
alternatively impliedly, alternatively tacitly agreed were as follows:
(a) the plaintiff would, consequent upon its said arrest and prior to
lawful release of the said 84 containers and cargo therein,
attend to the safekeeping thereof as a contract of depositum,
alternatively as an innominate contract;
(b) the plaintiff would, upon provision of the said guarantee,
release and return all of the cargo (including the cargo
subsequently found to constitute the missing cargo) to the
defendant’.
[64] The allegations in paragraph 14 of the counterclaim were denied. In
amplification (but without limiting the denial), Grindrod contended that the
agreement obliged it to release all cargo in its possession at the time of the
provision of the guarantee. As an alternative to that, Grindrod contended that
the agreement to release 84 containers proceeded from a common mistaken
belief that Grindrod had in its possession the missing container, whereas it did
not. Consequently, Grindrod peaded, the agreement fell to be rectified to
reflect an obligation on it to release and return only the 83 containers
containing the cargo arrested. The judge a quo held that there was no
common error. As far as can be judged from the brief reason she gave for
reaching this conclusion, she erred in conflating the issue as to whether Medu
303 was in Grindrod’s possession with the issue as to the basis upon which
the contract was concluded. Grindrod’s attitude was that if it had Medu 303 in
its possession at any material time then it was obliged to compensate
Arctocel. The issue of the contract would only arise if the court found that
Grindrod did not have Medu 303 in its possession at any material time. (I use
the term “at any material time” to try and clear up some of the loose language
employed in argument and in the pleadings. Obviously, if Grindrod had Medu
303 stored at its depot a year or two before the events which gave rise to this
26
case, that would have had no bearing on the case. Equally obviously, if Medu
303 had been deposited in Grindrod’s facility by Darreb after it had picked it
up in Johannesburg, Grindrod’s concession of liability would operate whatever
the terms of the contract.)
[65] Concerning a tacit term, the judge a quo held that she could not
formulate one for no reason other than that there was no evidence that the
parties intended a term which would release Grindrod from the obligation to
release any cargo not in its possession at the time that the release was due to
take place. In my respectful view that conclusion was correct as far as it went,
because, as counsel for the respondent argued, it could not have been
intended that Grindrod could escape liability to redeliver cargo by disposing of
it (or losing it) between the time when the contract was concluded and the
time for performance of the obligation to release the cargo.
[66] However, the question remains as to whether in terms of the contract
Grindrod had a contractual obligation to release Medu 303 even if it was not in
its possession at the time for release, and had not been in its possession at
any material time. That is the footing upon which the case was conducted.
[67] The documents upon which Arctocel relied for its contractual claim
were annexed to the counterclaim. The first is a letter dated 4 February 2013
addressed by Arctocel’s attorneys to Grindrod’s attorneys. The letter recorded
that Arctocel were “the owners of the cargo in the containers arrested by your
client”. The letter went on to offer security and to ask whether Grindrod would
be willing to accept security “against which the containers and cargo will be
released from the arrest”. This letter is the foundation for what followed. Two
observations must be made about it immediately.
(a) To the extent that the letter might be interpreted to convey a
belief that the containers had been arrested, it was erroneous.
Cargo had been arrested, or was in the process of being
arrested.
27
(b) If the author of the letter had access to the schedule annexed to
the arrest warrant and to the application for the issue of an
arrest warrant, then he was presumably at that stage under the
impression that the cargo contained in Medu 303 had been or
would be arrested.
[68] The letter of 4 February proposed that monetary security should be
substituted for the security achieved by the arrests of the cargo. The amount
of the monetary security was to be determined not with respect to the value of
the cargo, but, in terms of the letter, as an amount which provided satisfactory
security for Grindrod’s claim. The inclusion or exclusion of Medu 303 was not
a factor on that score.
[69] The second letter put up is one from Grindrod’s attorneys to Arctocel’s
attorneys dated 5 February. It enclosed a draft form of wording for a bank
guarantee to be issued by a bank against which Grindrod would “consider the
release of the cargo”. In my view, reading the two letters together, there can
be no doubt that what the letter of 5 February spoke about was cargo that had
been arrested.
[70] The draft bank guarantee which accompanied the letter of 5 February
commenced by recording the fact that Grindrod had “caused the cargo carried
[in] the containers listed in annexure “A” to be arrested pursuant to its claim”.
In its second paragraph the draft bank guarantee recorded that Arctocel
disputed the claim but furnished the guarantee “to secure the release of the
cargo”. This draft guarantee was prepared by Grindrod’s attorneys. On 5
February the sheriff was still busy executing the warrant at Grindrod’s
premises. Whether for that reason or otherwise, it is clear that the attorneys
were under the impression that the cargo contained in all the containers listed
in annexure “A” had been or would be arrested. We now know that belief was
erroneous. The error in the draft guarantee arises only in the first two
paragraphs which state the circumstances giving rise to the provision of the
proposed guarantee. They are what some people call “whereas clauses”.
Despite the error, a reasonable reader could only conclude that what was
28
intended was the substitution of monetary security for what was arrested; not
for any cargo that was not arrested.
[71] The final letter relied upon by Arctocel is dated 6 February 2013. It
enclosed the original bank guarantee. A copy of that bank guarantee is also
annexed to the pleading. In material part it is to the same effect as the draft
guarantee. The second paragraph ends with the recordal that the bank
guarantee is delivered “to secure the release of the cargo”. The cargo is
defined as the cargo contained in the containers listed in annexure “A”, just as
it was in the draft guarantee. The letter of 6 February asks Grindrod’s
attorneys to “release the containers listed in annexure “A” under the aforesaid
case number”. No document emanating from Grindrod’s attorneys confirming
that that was to be done was pleaded as part of the written record of the
contract. In my view the proper construction of the writing put up by Arctocel
as the contract coincides with a common sense and business-like approach to
the problem with which the parties were confronted. Monetary security was to
substitute for cargo which had been arrested. Why would Arctocel offer to
provide security to replace the retention of cargo which had not been
arrested? Looked at otherwise, why would Arctocel stipulate for the delivery
of cargo which Grindrod had never possessed? And why would Grindrod
undertake to deliver cargo which it had never possessed? The obvious
answers to those questions coincide, in my view, with a proper understanding
of the agreement. The contract was clearly intended to operate in respect of
arrested cargo. Where the guarantee refers to that cargo in its introductory
provisions as the cargo reflected in annexure “A”, that must be read in context
to convey cargo in the containers reflected in annexure “A” which has been
arrested. Both the letter of 6 February and the bank guarantee speak of the
“release” of the containers or the cargo, as the case may be. In plain
language, Grindrod could not release what it did not have and had not
arrested
[72] I conclude that Arctocel’s claim for compensation for the loss of the
cargo allegedly contained in Medu 303 must fail.
29
THE CLAIM FOR COMPENSATION FOR DEMURRAGE
[73] It is necessary briefly to re-engage with the basis upon which the
demurrage claim was pleaded. Arctocel pleaded that Grindrod owed it a legal
duty arising at common law, and confirmed by Section 5 (4) of the Admiralty
Jurisdiction Regulation Act, 1983 to make a timeous enquiry of MSC in order
to establish whether it was true that MSC owned the containers in respect of
which the demurrage claim was ultimately made. (I will ignore the fact that as
late as 28 January 2013 MSC’s demand was for 73 containers, and not the 83
in respect of which demurrage is claimed. The record reveals no solution to
that conundrum, but it is not relevant in the view I take of the matter.) I have
already drawn attention to the fact that on the evidence before the court
MSC’s ownership of the containers was never an issue. The issue was the
cargo contained in the containers. Furthermore, s 5(4) of the Admiralty
Jurisdiction Regulation Act has to do with arrested property. The containers
were not arrested.
[74] It was then pleaded that Grindrod continued to detain the containers
and thereafter arrested them. I will revert to the question of their detention.
The pleader asserts that the breach of the legal duty (i.e. the legal duty to
ascertain MSC’s ownership of the containers) was negligent or wilful in that, in
addition, Grindrod did not comply timeously with a legal duty to take
reasonable and necessary actions to confirm that there was no “reasonable
and probable cause to continue to detain and/or arrest the containers”. That,
according to the pleading, resulted in Grindrod being liable to compensate
Arctocel in the amount it allegedly had to pay to MSC for demurrage from 10
January 2013 to 8 February 2013 when the cargo was released still inside the
containers.
[75] It is Arctocel’s case that there was no contract between it and Grindrod
on the subject of the storage of the containers. The alleged legal duty did not
spring from contract. The claim has no vindicatory foundation. Arctocel was
not the owner of the containers. The claim is one for damages allegedly
30
suffered in consequence of the negligent or wilful breach of a duty of care
allegedly owed by Grinrod to Arctocel to take steps to avoid Arctocel’s
obligation to pay demurrage charges to MSC. Properly understood, the cause
of action rests on an omission, and the claim is one for pure economic loss.
[76] In such a case our law imposes liability only where the omission is
shown to be wrongful. Wrongfulness is not assumed in cases of omission or
pure economic loss. See Gouda Boerdery BK v Transnet Ltd [2004] 4 All SA
500 (SCA) at para 12.
“It is now well established that wrongfulness is a requirement for liability under
the modern Aquilian action. Negligent conduct giving rise to loss, unless also
wrongful, is therefore not actionable. But the issue of wrongfulness is more
often than not uncontentious as the plaintiff’s action will be founded upon
conduct which, if held to be culpable, would be prima facie wrongful. Typically
this is so where the negligent conduct takes the form of a positive act which
causes physical harm. Where the element of wrongfulness gains importance is
in relation to liability for omissions and pure economic loss. The inquiry as to
wrongfulness will then involve a determination of the existence or otherwise of
a legal duty owed by the defendant to the plaintiff to act without negligence: in
other words to avoid negligently causing the plaintiff harm. This will be a matter
for judicial judgment involving criteria of reasonableness, policy and, where
appropriate, constitutional norms.” ( Footnotes omitted.)
And see Country Cloud Trading CC v Member of the Executive Council,
Department of Infrastructure Development, Gauteng 2014 (12) BCLR 1397
(CC).
“[21] Previously, it was contentious what the wrongfulness enquiry entailed,
but this is no longer the case. The growing coherence in this area of our law
is due in large part to decisions of the Supreme Court of Appeal over the last
decade. Endorsing these developments, this Court in Loureiro recently
articulated that the wrongfulness enquiry focuses on:
“the [harm-causing] conduct and goes to whether the policy and legal
convictions of the community, constitutionally understood, regard it as
31
acceptable. It is based on the duty not to cause harm – indeed to respect
rights – and questions the reasonableness of imposing liability.”
The statement that harm-causing conduct is wrongful expresses the conclusion
that public or legal policy considerations require that the conduct, if paired with
fault, is actionable. And if conduct is not wrongful, the intention is to convey the
converse: “that public or legal policy considerations determine that there should
be no liability; that the potential defendant should not be subjected to a claim
for damages”, notwithstanding his or her fault.
[22] Wrongfulness is generally uncontentious in cases of positive conduct that
harms the person or property of another. Conduct of this kind is prima
facie wrongful. However, in cases of pure economic loss – that is to say, where
financial loss is sustained by a plaintiff with no accompanying physical harm to
her person or property – the criterion of wrongfulness assumes special
importance. In contrast to cases of physical harm, conduct causing pure
economic loss is not prima facie wrongful. Our law of delict protects rights, and,
in cases of non-physical invasion, the infringement of rights may not be as
clearly apparent as in direct physical infringement. There is no general right not
to be caused pure economic loss.”
(Footnotes omitted. The reference to Loureiro: Loureiro and others v iMvula
Quality Protection (Pty) Ltd 2014 (5) BCLR 511 (CC).)
[77] Crediting Arctocel’s pleading with an implied allegation of wrongfulness,
the foundation for the assertion appears to be “I told you that I would have to
pay demurrage if you did not return the containers to MSC, and it thereby
became wrongful in relation to me for you not to do so.” The criterion of
wrongfulness requires a deeper investigation of the relationship between the
parties, and of the factual matrix, to determine whether legal policy
considerations justify recognising the duty and imposing liability.
[78] Arctocel put Darreb in possession of the containers. Arctocel owed
MSC a contractual duty to take care of the containers, and return them
presumably at an appointed time and by a method consistent with the practice
of that industry. It then entrusted Darreb with the duty to take care of the
containers. None of these things had anything to do with Grindrod.
32
[79] By the time that Arctocel contacted Grindrod, contractual obligations
had been imposed on Grindrod to keep the containers and the cargo safe and
available for delivery to Darreb. Mr Naidoo’s personal reactions to Arctocel’s
claim to the containers and the cargo (before the issue came under the direct
control of head office) were undeniably reasonable and understandable.
Firstly, it was not just a matter of money owed to Grindrod. He insisted that
Darreb had to become involved, obviously because his employer was under a
contractual obligation to return the containers and cargo to Darreb. Secondly,
he could not on Arctocel’s mere say-so accept that Arctocel had a claim to the
containers and cargo which trumped that of Darreb. In fact Arctocel did not
secure Darreb’s involvement in the release of the containers and cargo,
despite the fact that it was the party who in the first place put Darreb in
possession of them. There is no evidence that any proof of ownership of the
cargo in the containers was at any time produced to Mr Naidoo, or otherwise
to Grindrod.
[80] In my view against this background legal policy would not countenance
the imposition of a delictual duty on an unwilling party to perform something
that party already owed to another under contract. The fact that Grindrod
subsequently relented, and surrendered the containers and the cargo to
Arctocel, provides no argument in support of the proposition that it was
obliged to do so earlier. It would not be reasonable to impose the obligation
on Grindrod.
[81] One finds this observation in Country Cloud at paragraph 25. It is of
some significance in the present matter.
“But it should be noted – and this was unfortunately given little attention in
argument – that the element of causation (particularly legal causation, which is itself
based on policy considerations) is also a mechanism of control in pure economic loss
cases that can work in tandem with wrongfulness.
[82] According to the evidence of Mr Jhunjhunwala, Arctocel contracted with
MSC for the hire of containers upon the terms set out in certain standard
33
terms and conditions which included a contractual obligation to pay
demurrage. The primary obligation to pay demurrage rested on Arctocel. If
demurrage was running against Arctocel’s interests, it was itself obliged to
take such steps as were necessary and available to it in order to prevent its
contractual obligation to pay demurrage running. That it could have done by
the simple expedient of asking Grindrod to unpack the containers so that they
could be surrendered to MSC. Mr Naidoo was asked about unpacking the
cargo and said that, if required, Grindrod could have removed the containers
to its Bluff depot and unpacked them there, an exercise which he estimated
would have cost about R40 000.
[83] As pointed out earlier in this judgment, it is overwhelmingly probable
that all the demands made for return of the containers were actually demands
for return of the containers together with the cargo lodged in them. Grindrod
offered itself to unpack the cargo and return the containers on 1 February.
That offer was declined. Mr Jhunjhunwala appeared to have regarded
unpacking the containers as impractical. One can see the disadvantages of
the exercise from his perspective. That inconvenience does not have a
bearing on the legal obligations imposed on the parties. In my view, upon the
assumption that demurrage for the period in question was actually charged
and paid, that was the product of the breach by Arctocel of its contract with
MSC in delaying the delivery of the containers to MSC. The primary
obligation to return the containers to MSC was Arctocel’s. The causa causans
of demurrage continuing to run was Arctocel’s default, not Grindrod’s. If
Arctocel had demanded of Grindrod that it should unpack the containers so
they could be returned to MSC, and Grindrod had refused to do so, matters
might have been different. (On Mr Naidoo’s evidence, and paying due regard
to the fact that Grindrod itself tendered to unpack the containers once the
cargo had been arrested, it seems that Grinrod would not have declined any
such request.) Instead of making that demand, Arctocel contrived to set
Grinrod up as the former’s indemnifier against demurrage charges. Allowing
Arctocel success in that endeavour would constitute an inappropriate and
unreasonable allocation of liability to Grindrod.
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[84] Arctocel’s efforts to prove the quantum of its claim for demurrage
should be briefly mentioned, as it has a bearing on Mr Jhunjhunwala’s
credibility. Arctocel’s efforts suffered from maladies similar to those already
discussed in relation to the claim for the loss of Medu 303. The contract
between MSC and Arctocel imposing the obligation to pay demurrage was not
produced. An invoice from MSC reflecting the charge for demurrage was not
produced. When pressed on this, Mr Jhunjhunwala suggested that the two-
page schedule annexed to the counterclaim was the invoice. There is no
evidence besides Mr Jhunjhunwala’s word that the schedule was produced by
MSC.
[85] Proof of payment of an amount of R1.5 million on 23 October was
handed in, according to the record, during Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence in
chief. The document was not included in the appeal record and we cannot
determine the year in which that payment was made. Proof of the fact that
Arctocel paid R1.5 million to MSC takes the matter no further. Judging from
Mr Jhunjhunwala’s evidence, Arctocel’s business with MSC would have run to
many millions at the time. No statement of account from MSC was produced,
and no ledger sheet (be it that of Arctocel or MSC) was produced to show the
raising of the debit and the allocation of a payment to it.
[86] According to Mr Jhunjhunwala, whilst the obligation to pay demurrage
was contractually fixed, the rate at which it would be paid was not. He
vacillated in his evidence between suggesting that he had to negotiate the
rates with MSC and saying that he was in effect bound to pay whatever MSC
said their rates were. No witness from MSC was called to establish the
obligation, to verify rates and indeed to corroborate Mr Jhunjhunwala’s
contention that the claim for the 29 days which features in the schedule
annexed to the counterclaim is genuinely quantified. Bearing in mind Mr
Jhunjhunwala’s evidence that Arctocel’s problems with Darreb arose because
of a transport strike during the second half of 2012, the containers on the list
were overdue by a margin significantly greater than the 29 days with which
Arctocel sought to burden Grindrod. Medu 303 features on the list. If it had
been loaded in mid-August 2012, its arrival at the Durban port stacks would
35
have been already five months overdue at the commencement date of the 29
days claimed (10 January 2013).
[87] In his evidence in chief Mr Jhunjhunwala was asked to state how the
schedule of demurrage claims annexed to the counterclaim came into being.
His answer was that MSC knew that Arctocel wished to deliver a
counterclaim, as a result of which
“they actually split the demurrage for ease of correctness or ease of
understanding into various bills and this was one of the schedules that they
gave us regarding the demurrage, specifically for the containers that were
arrested by Grindrod in relation to this court case”.
The various bills and the full picture regarding demurrage claims allegedly
made by MSC against Arctocel was withheld. It would obviously have been to
Arctocel’s advantage to have the bill attributed to the claim against Grindrod
loaded, and the others relating to other periods consequently less
burdensome. Mr Jhunjhunwala in effect asked the court to take his word on
trust. His word did not satisfy the requirement that in the circumstances of this
case the claim that demurrage was charged and paid in the claimed amount
had to be proved by substantial, detailed, reliable and satisfactory evidence
(Union Market Agency, supra).
[88] I conclude that the claim for compensation for demurrage ought not to
have been allowed.
The following order is made.
1. The appeal is upheld with costs.
2. The order of the court a quo allowing the respondent’s claims
in reconvention is set aside, and replaced with the following
order:
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“The first defendant’s claims in reconvention are dismissed
with costs.”
OLSEN J
CHETTY J
JIKELA AJ
37
Date of Hearing: WEDNESDAY, 29 JANUARY 2020 Date of Judgment: This judgment was handed down electronically by circulation to the parties’ representatives by email, and by release to SAFLII. The time and date for hand down is deemed to be at 09h30 on the 31st day of July 2020 For Appellant: Mr P J Wallis Instructed by: PRINSLOO INC.
APPELLANT’S ATTORNEYS Unit 6, 2ND Floor 72 Richefond Circle Ridgeside Office Park Umhlanga
(Tel.: 087 238 2289) (Ref.: P Prinsloo/K Fenner/GRIN32) (Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
c/o HAY & SCOTT ATTORNEYS
Top Floor, 3 Highgate Drive Redlands Estate 1 George MaCFarlane Lane Pietermaritzburg
(Ref.: Jeremy Frank Capon) (Tel No.: 033 – 342 4800) For Respondent: MR G D HURPUR SC Instructed by: CKMG ATTORNEYS RESPONDENT’S ATTORNEYS Suite 2, George Sewpersadh Centre 23 George Sewpersadh Street Verulam…4340 (Ref: Mr S Moodley/Natalie/A199) (Tel.: 032 533 0296 / 533 0274) (Email: [email protected]) c/o DEV MAHARAJ & ASSOC INC 298 Prince Alfred Street Pietermaritzburg 3200 (Tel.: 033 342 2794) (Mr S Singh)