Facts:

The Respondent as Plaintiff instituted an action in the Federal High Court, Lagos Division (trial court) against the Appellants as Defendants, for a breach of contract of carriage of goods per bill of lading, amongst other reliefs. The Respondent‘s case at the trial court was that under a contract of carriage of cargo by sea between it and the appellants, they had issued a bill of lading which instructed the appellants to enter Jiuzhu Port in Zhuhai as the Port of Delivery of the cargo to the consignee in Zhuhai while payment for the freight would be made payable by the consignee at Xiangzhou port in Zhuhai once the cargo was delivered at Jiuzhou Port in Zhuhai as the cargo was free on board. The appellants allegedly negligently prepared the Bill of Lading and entered Jinzhou Port, Zhuhai as the Port of Delivery which was a far cry from the contractual Port of Delivery and contrary to the instruction of the respondent that the cargo be delivered at Jiuzhou Port in Zhuhai, China, and that it was about two weeks after the vessel had set sail that it sighted the Bill of Lading for the first time, as it was not availed a copy thereof by the appellants; that Jinzhou is not in Zhuhai but the Liaoning province in China a distance of at least 3,000 kilometres from the nearest port in Zhuhai China; that the cargo has not been delivered by the appellants to the consignee/notify party till date, nor has the cargo been returned to the respondent as demanded by it, but same remains with the appellants aboard its vessel.

The appellants on the other hand filed a statement of defence but did not lead evidence, thus, resting their case on the evidence presented by the respondent. The court below found the evidence of the respondent credible and accepted it and entered judgment in favour of the respondent against the appellants by the reliefs sought.

The appellant aggrieved with the trial court’s decision appealed to the Court of Appeal.