Template Description

The Shipping and Logistics Agreement Template is a legally compliant, business-ready contract designed for organisations engaging logistics service providers for domestic and international shipping, warehousing, customs clearance, last-mile delivery, and end-to-end supply chain support. This professionally formatted 6-page MS Word document is suitable for companies across retail, e-commerce, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and cross-border trading sectors.

Understanding the Shipping and Logistics Agreement Template

This agreement creates a formal legal relationship between a Client/Consignor and a Service Provider/Logistics Partner, outlining the mutual obligations in freight handling, delivery timelines, risk allocation, insurance, and claims. It helps in mitigating business disruptions, enforcing SLAs, ensuring timely payment terms, and covering legal compliance for logistics operations.

Key Features of the Template

• Legally Aligned Format: Drafted to comply with Indian Contract Law, Carriage by Road Act, and Multimodal Transportation of Goods Act, it incorporates all key logistics-specific clauses such as risk, insurance, POD, freight calculation, and penalty for non-performance.
• Detailed Scope of Services: Includes pickup & delivery, inter/intra-state shipping, warehousing, customs clearance, reverse logistics, tracking, and API-based status updates.
• Service Level Standards (SLA): Establishes measurable benchmarks, including on-time delivery rate, POD compliance, pickup time, escalation timelines, and real-time reporting requirements.
• Defined Payment Terms: Specifies per-trip, per-weight, or slab-based freight charges; outlines monthly billing cycles, late fees, and payment modes with editable bank account fields.
• Claims & Liabilities: Includes fair limitations of liability for damages/loss, sets clear timelines (7 days) for claim notification, and defines responsibility allocation between client and transporter.
• Risk and Insurance Management: Differentiates responsibility for transit insurance and permits flexibility to assign it to either party, depending on contract or shipment value.
• Legal Compliance & Documentation: Ensures both parties adhere to documentation norms such as e-way bills, GST, permits, and licenses; also allows refusal of improperly packed/labelled cargo.
• Intellectual Property & Confidentiality Clauses: Protects the service provider’s proprietary software, tracking tools, and client shipment data with non-duplication and NDA-style clauses.
• Termination & Force Majeure Provisions: Includes 30-day mutual termination clauses with final dues clearance; force majeure protection for natural disasters, wars, port closures, and strikes.
• Arbitration & Jurisdiction: Dispute resolution through arbitration under Indian law, with a customizable seat of arbitration and courts’ jurisdiction.

Conclusion

The Shipping and Logistics Agreement Template offers a thorough, customizable foundation for safeguarding supply chain operations. It ensures enforceable protection for both parties through detailed terms for service performance, liabilities, insurance, penalties, documentation, and dispute resolution. With a comprehensive legal structure and plug-and-play, it empowers businesses to manage vendor relationships confidently and transparently.