When cargo is reported missing or delivered in a quantity different from the shipping document, the description applied to the event does not itself identify the governing rules. Bangladesh’s Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 1925 directs its Schedule Rules to carriage of goods by sea in ships from a port in Bangladesh to another port, whether that other port is inside or outside Bangladesh. [1]
The legal frame
The Schedule’s use of bills of lading and similar documents of title, together with its loading-to-discharge definition of carriage, makes the voyage and documentary record central to reading that framework. 2 Its provisions on described goods supply a statutory starting point for maritime cargo records; they do not provide a universal answer for every Bangladesh-connected movement or quantity discrepancy.
The outward-voyage provision
The Act directs the Schedule Rules to carriage of goods by sea in ships carrying goods from a port in Bangladesh to another port, whether that other port is inside or outside Bangladesh. 1
That wording marks the outward voyage described in the Act. It does not state that the Rules answer every Bangladesh-connected cargo dispute, every inward shipment or every form of transport, and it does not identify the legal consequences of a particular event. 1
The carriage document in the statutory framework
For the Schedule’s purposes, a “contract of carriage” applies only to a contract covered by a bill of lading or similar document of title in the circumstances stated in that definition. The Schedule also defines the period of “carriage of goods” as running from loading to discharge from the ship. 2
Those statutory definitions place both the relevant document and the point in the sea-carriage period within the legal context. The text does not by itself establish whether a particular document, party, voyage or alleged short delivery falls within the Rules. 2
Goods described in the bill of lading
The Schedule’s bill-of-lading provision identifies, among other stated particulars, marks, the number of packages or pieces, quantity or weight, and the apparent order and condition of goods. It also gives receipt of goods as described under that provision a limited prima facie evidential effect. 2
That provision does not itself establish that an alleged discrepancy is proved, identify the responsible party or determine what follows from it. The Act also contains a provision for certain bulk-cargo weights where a third party has ascertained or accepted the weight and the bill of lading states that fact. 1 Whether that provision or another rule is engaged turns on the statutory conditions and the relevant documents.
Reading the statutory record
The statutory text considered here does not address carrier or shipper liability, exceptions, monetary limits, notices, suit timing, damages, insurance, contracts outside the defined statutory setting, freight-forwarding arrangements, customs or port matters, arbitration, court allocation, filing procedure, arrest or release of a vessel, security, liens, priority, enforcement or recovery. Those matters cannot be inferred from the label cargo loss or short delivery.
The official Bangladesh legislation pages and Schedule cited below were accessed on 21 September 2026. They provide statutory text. A consolidated “in force as at” status, all amendments and Gazette material, current judicial interpretation, and case-specific application have not been verified in this record. Confirmation of those matters by a Bangladesh-qualified maritime/cargo-carriage legal editor remains necessary before publication.
Sources checked
The statutory materials cited in this article were accessed on 21 September 2026. The discussion follows the public text of the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act, 1925 and identifies the propositions addressed in those materials.