Under Institute Cargo Clauses (A) - Exclusion - Article 4.3 - loss damage or expense caused by insufficiency or unsuitability of packing or preparation of the subject-matter insured to withstand the ordinary incidents of the insured transit where such packing or preparation is carried out by the Assured or their employees or prior to the attachment of this insurance (for the purpose of these Clauses "packing" shall be deemed to include stowage in a container and "employees" shall not include independent contractors)

XYZ Business Printers (seller) and Purple Construction Management (buyer) engage in

international trade for the consignment of 30 new multifunction devices and agreed to use the Incoterm 2020 of CPT (Carriage Paid To) to have them delivered. After having agreed to this, XYZ engaged Harris Freight Forwarders to manage the packaging and transportation of the consignment to Purple's head office in Christchurch, New Zealand. Harris arranged to have the consignment delivered from the Fremantle (Perth's main container port) to Christchurch by a shipping carrier service aboard the Southern Ocean Express, a container ship owned by Green Shipping Services Ltd. Upon arrival to Christchurch, the consignment is broken and are unfit for use. The main issue is determining which entity is liable for the damage of the goods.

Who would be defined as an independent contractor?

Harris's delivery driver cut costs by using less protective packaging to deliver the goods and later on cause damaging the goods when shipping through heavy waves. If the root cause of the damage was the independent contractor (cutting the cost of the protection), would the buyer still be eligible to claim insurance? or the independent contractor should be liable to pay for the damage? Who will be the only party need to be liable under this scenario?