CMR and the carrier's invoice: what to check first

A forwarder sells a transport to a customer and buys it from a carrier. The margin is the gap between those two prices, and it leaks through payments that should not have been made: to a carrier who charged more than agreed, for a load the consignee never signed for, or for an unloading somewhere other than where the transport was sold. All of it shows in two documents, the CMR consignment note and the carrier's invoice. This article covers what to check in them before you pay.

What the CMR consignment note proves

The CMR consignment note is the evidence of a contract for the international carriage of goods by road under the CMR Convention. It is made out in three original copies signed by the sender and the carrier: the first stays with the sender, the second travels with the goods, and the third stays with the carrier. The forwarder usually receives a copy or a photo together with the carrier's invoice, and that copy is often the only proof the forwarder has that the goods were delivered.

The box that matters most to a forwarder is box 24, "goods received". It should carry the consignee's signature, stamp and date. If box 24 holds only the carrier's own stamp, or nothing at all, that CMR does not prove anyone received the goods. If the customer later says the load never arrived, you have nothing to argue with.

What to check before paying the carrier's invoice

• •The order number: is the invoice really for your order, and has that order not been paid already?
• •The price: does the net amount match the price agreed with the carrier? If not, which line makes the difference: waiting time, an extra drop, road tolls?
• •Currency, VAT rate and VAT amount.
• •The CMR count: one per unloading place. Three drops and two CMRs means one delivery you cannot prove.
• •Unloading country and city: is it where you sold the transport to your customer?
• •Loading date: does it match the order?
• •The consignee's signature in box 24.

A mismatch is not yet a mistake. The carrier may have rightly charged for waiting time, and the customer may have asked for an extra drop. But it should be a decision someone made, not a difference nobody noticed.

CMR Convention deadlines worth knowing

When goods are damaged, lost or late, the customer will usually claim first from whoever they paid, which is you. Whether you can pass the loss on to the carrier then depends on time and on your documents. The CMR Convention provides that:

• •The carrier is liable for loss of or damage to the goods between taking them over and delivering them, and for delay in delivery (Art. 17).
• •Apparent loss or damage must be noted at delivery; loss or damage that is not apparent must be notified in writing within 7 days of delivery, Sundays and public holidays excepted (Art. 30). A consignee who signs without reservations is presumed, until proven otherwise, to have received the goods as described in the consignment note.
• •No compensation is payable for delay unless a written reservation reaches the carrier within 21 days of the goods being placed at the consignee's disposal (Art. 30).
• •Compensation is capped at 8.33 units of account (the IMF's Special Drawing Right, SDR) per kilogram of gross weight short (Art. 23). The cap does not apply where the damage was caused by wilful misconduct (Art. 29).
• •The limitation period for claims is one year, or three years in the case of wilful misconduct (Art. 32).

The practical conclusion is simple: a CMR with no consignee signature, or one with a note about damaged goods, needs to be spotted the same week, not at month end when the accountant is preparing payments. Always check the exact terms in the Convention text and in your own contracts with the customer and the carrier.

Why this work gets stuck

Carrier invoices arrive weeks after the transport. CMRs come scanned or photographed on a phone, sometimes attached to a different email. To check one invoice, the forwarder finds the order, opens the CMR and compares them line by line. With a few dozen orders a month, the check gets rushed or skipped, and the invoice gets paid because the carrier keeps calling.

The cost is not only the overpayments. It is the claim that could have been passed to the carrier but was noticed after the 7-day window, and the dispute with a customer where the only CMR in the file has the carrier's stamp in box 24.

How Ezura's forwarding module handles it

The carrier's invoice lands on its order by the order number printed on it, and the CMR that came with it is read, even from a phone photo: number, unloading place, dates and the consignee's signature in box 24. For every order Ezura builds a check table covering price, VAT, the CMR count, unloading places, loading date and signature. Mismatches are shown and nothing is blocked: the forwarder decides, and the invoice then goes on to the accountant and into your accounting system.