Sea Cargo Compensation Limits in Turkey: Packages, Gross Weight and SDR Calculations
The ordinary Turkish sea-cargo limit is not simply two SDR per kilogram. Article 1186(1) of the Turkish Commercial Code requires comparison of 666.67 Special Drawing Rights per package or unit with two Special Drawing Rights per kilogram of the gross weight of the goods lost or damaged, and applies the higher amount. Container entries, a qualifying declaration of nature and value, an agreed higher limit and loss of the right to limit can change the analysis. The statutory ceiling must also be kept separate from the loss actually proved.
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This guide explains the calculation for overseas cargo owners, importers, exporters and insurers handling Turkey-linked maritime claims. It concerns the Turkish statutory framework where applicable, not an assumption that every shipment arriving in Turkey is governed by the same law. The main source is Turkish Commercial Code No. 6102, Article 1186, read with Articles 1187 and 1190–1191. Establish the governing law, claimant’s entitlement and carrier responsibility before treating a calculation as the amount recoverable.
1. Establish liability before applying the ceiling
A limitation provision controls the amount of an established responsibility; it does not prove that the carrier caused the loss or owes the claimant anything. Identify the transport document, the relevant carrier, the loss occurring within the applicable custody period and any supported defence. Then determine whether the ordinary Article 1186 limit is available.
Equally, a carrier’s assertion that it accepts liability up to a particular figure does not establish that its chosen figure is correct. Request the package count, gross weight, statutory basis, conversion date and treatment of any declaration or agreement. Those inputs should be visible rather than buried in an unexplained settlement offer.
The invoice value, insurer payment and carrier limit are three different amounts. Insurance coverage does not automatically expand the carrier’s statutory responsibility, and the statutory ceiling does not automatically equal the insured loss. Preserve the documents supporting each relationship and avoid counting the same damage twice.
2. Compare both ordinary limits instead of selecting the lower one
For the ordinary physical loss or damage calculation under Article 1186(1), identify the relevant package or unit count and the gross kilograms of the goods lost or damaged. Calculate each limb separately. The statute directs use of the higher result, not the result most favourable to the carrier.
Package limb: 666.67 SDR multiplied by the legally relevant number of packages or units. Weight limb: 2 SDR multiplied by the gross kilograms of the goods lost or damaged. Ordinary ceiling: the higher of those two amounts, subject to the statute’s declaration rule and the other provisions addressed below.
Keep the calculations in SDR until the correct currency-conversion step. Do not insert a dollar or euro exchange rate into the package count, and do not compare an SDR result with a lira result. The figures must use consistent units before the higher ceiling is identified.
3. The relevant weight is the damaged or lost goods’ gross weight
Article 1186(1) refers to the gross weight of the goods which suffered loss or damage. A claim concerning part of a shipment therefore needs a supported identification of that part. The total booking weight should not automatically replace the weight of the affected goods, and the product’s net weight should not silently be substituted for gross weight.
Retain the packing list, weighing records, bill entries and any survey identifying the affected packages. Distinguish measured weights from supplier estimates and later reconstructed figures. Where a package contains both affected and unaffected items, identify the factual dispute and the basis of the proposed treatment instead of concealing it in a single total.
The weight used for freight billing is not necessarily the same figure needed for the compensation limit. Freight can be calculated using measurement or other contractual units. A carrier’s freight invoice should be examined for what it actually records rather than assumed to provide the statutory damaged-cargo weight.
4. The transport document controls the container-counting inquiry
Article 1186(3) addresses goods consolidated in a container, pallet or similar transport device. Each package or unit recorded in the sea-carriage document as the device’s contents counts as a separate package or unit. Otherwise, the transport device is counted as one package or unit. The actual documentary entry is therefore central to the package limb.
Obtain the complete document, including any relevant continuation sheet. Identify whether it records internal packages or merely a container, pallet or other device. A commercial packing list can help prove what was shipped, but its contents should not automatically be treated as entries in the sea-carriage document for paragraph 3.
Do not infer the answer from the number of containers alone. Nor should every item in a sales invoice automatically be counted as a separate statutory unit without examining the carriage description. The analysis must connect the claimed count to the relevant cargo and document rather than choose the largest available number.
5. A damaged transport device has an additional rule
Article 1186(3) also addresses loss or damage to the transport device itself. The device counts as a separate package unless it belongs to the carrier or was supplied by the carrier. This requires evidence of ownership or supply, not simply proof that the device appeared in the shipment.
Separate a cargo claim from a claim for the container, pallet or equipment itself. Identify the claimant’s rights in the device and the amount attributed to its loss. A cargo invoice does not necessarily establish either. Equally, the device’s weight should not be added indiscriminately to the goods’ gross weight without assessing the proper statutory calculation.
Keep equipment lease records, interchange documents and ownership information together. The purpose is to determine the device’s legal treatment and avoid duplicate counting, not to assume that every container is an additional package benefiting the cargo claimant.
6. Cargo valuation and the liability ceiling are separate calculations
Article 1186(2) values the goods at the place and date where they were discharged, or should have been discharged, in accordance with the freight contract. It uses an exchange price where available, then the current market price, and otherwise the ordinary value of goods of the same nature and quality. The valuation reference is therefore not automatically the original purchase date or the date proceedings were filed.
The commercial invoice remains relevant evidence, but it should be considered alongside the statutory valuation basis. For damaged rather than wholly lost goods, identify the loss actually established, the remaining value and any recoveries or salvage proceeds. A ceiling calculation alone does not establish that the goods had no residual value.
Maintain a transparent schedule showing the supported loss and the proposed limit separately. Where the supported compensable loss is below the applicable ceiling, the ceiling is not an automatic minimum award. Where the loss exceeds it, establish whether a declaration, increased limit or Article 1187 issue changes the ordinary limitation result.
7. SDR is a unit of account, not a fixed dollar amount
The International Monetary Fund explains that SDR is not a currency and that its value is based on a currency basket. A published limit expressed in SDR should therefore not be relabelled as the same number of US dollars, euros or Turkish lira.
Article 1186(1) directs conversion into Turkish lira using the value determined by the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye on the actual payment date or another date agreed by the parties. Preserve the agreed date where one exists. A website’s current indicative conversion is not automatically the legally applicable historical or future value.
The claim schedule should identify the SDR amount, conversion date, official rate source and resulting lira figure. Do not describe an estimated conversion as a permanently fixed entitlement. This guide deliberately does not insert a live exchange rate into an evergreen legal rule.
8. A qualifying declaration requires more than a value on the sales invoice
Article 1186(1) excludes the ordinary limitation in the situation where the shipper declared the goods’ nature and value before loading and those particulars were entered in the sea-carriage document. Timing, the content of the declaration and the documentary entry are separate elements. An invoice attached only after a loss does not establish all three.
Retain the declaration, transmission history, accepted shipping instructions and the issued document. Distinguish declared value for the carriage from a customs value, insured value or sales price. Those amounts can coincide, but their appearance in different documents does not make their legal functions identical.
Article 1186(4) makes the recorded declaration presumptive evidence without making it binding on the carrier. It expressly excludes the special contrary-proof rule in Article 1239(3) from those entries. A qualifying declaration changes the limitation inquiry; it does not make an overstated valuation indisputable.
9. Intentional misdescription and agreed higher limits must also be checked
Article 1186(5) provides a distinct consequence where the shipper intentionally misstates the goods’ nature or value: the carrier is not responsible for the goods-related loss or damage described by that paragraph. The requirement of intention must not be omitted. A clerical discrepancy should not automatically be characterised as intentional misdescription.
Paragraph 8 permits the parties to agree limits higher than those in paragraphs 1 and 6. For the paragraph 1 calculation, an agreed amount cannot be below whichever statutory limb is higher. Identify the agreement, its scope and the parties bound by it before substituting a different ceiling.
Where an actual carrier performs the carriage, Article 1191(3) separately addresses special undertakings that increase obligations or waive statutory rights. Such an undertaking does not bind the actual carrier without its express written approval, while remaining binding on the contracting carrier. The higher-limit agreement should therefore be connected to the proper defendant.
10. Delay has its own cap and a combined-claim restriction
Under Article 1186(6), responsibility for exceeding the carriage period is limited to two and a half times the freight payable for the delayed goods, but cannot exceed the total freight payable under the freight contract. This requires two freight figures to be distinguished where only part of the shipment is delayed.
The ordinary delay ceiling is therefore the lower of 2.5 times the freight attributable to the delayed goods and the total contractual freight. Do not substitute the invoice value of the goods or apply the physical-damage package formula without explaining why a different statutory provision governs the loss claimed.
Paragraph 7 limits aggregate responsibility where the physical loss or damage and delay provisions apply together to the amount payable under paragraph 1 for total loss. Keep overlapping loss components separate. A claimant cannot avoid the aggregate restriction merely by placing the same financial consequence in several columns.
11. Loss of the right to limit requires the statutory threshold
Article 1187 removes Article 1186’s limits where the required intentional conduct, or reckless conduct with awareness of the likelihood of the relevant damage or delay, is proved to have caused the loss. The statutory mental and causal elements matter. Ordinary fault, a serious outcome or a large invoice does not automatically establish that threshold.
Retain the records supporting the alleged conduct and identify the person or entity to which it is attributed. The paragraph concerning personnel also has its own requirements. A demand letter should state the actual basis relied upon rather than insert the expression gross negligence as though that phrase always replaced the Turkish statutory test.
Specific statutory rules can also be relevant. The under-deck promise guide addresses Article 1151(5)’s connection to Article 1187. Any such route must be established on its facts; loss of this particular limitation benefit should not be described as removal of every separate maritime rule.
12. Changing the label of the claim does not automatically avoid the limit
Article 1190(1) applies the carrier’s defences and limitation rules to claims against it for the relevant cargo loss, damage or delay brought in tort or on another basis. A claim’s legal label alone is not an escape from the statutory ceiling. Paragraphs 2 and 3 address personnel acting within their duties and authority and the combined recovery, subject to Article 1187.
Article 1191 separately regulates the actual carrier and the total compensation paid by the relevant carriers and personnel. Identifying several potential defendants does not generate several recoveries of the same damage. The carrier-identity guide explains the party distinctions that must precede the calculation.
Preserve the notice requirements and the separate proceedings deadline while discussing quantum. An accurate spreadsheet does not preserve a claim which still requires a timely procedural step.
Frequently asked questions
Is the ordinary sea-cargo limit always two SDR per kilogram?
No. Article 1186(1) compares that weight calculation with 666.67 SDR per package or unit and uses the higher amount, subject to the applicable statutory qualifications.
Should the whole shipment’s weight be used for a partial-loss claim?
The provision refers to the gross weight of the goods lost or damaged. Identify the affected goods and support their weight rather than automatically using the total booking weight.
Does one container always count as one package?
No. Article 1186(3) counts packages or units recorded as its contents in the sea-carriage document separately. Otherwise the transport device is treated as one package or unit.
Does an ordinary packing list automatically establish the statutory package count?
Not by itself. Paragraph 3 refers to the sea-carriage document. Determine the relevant document and entries, while using the packing list as supporting shipment evidence.
Is the liability ceiling an automatic award?
No. Responsibility and the compensable loss must be proved. The ceiling limits an established claim; it does not create a minimum payment independent of the loss.
Which date governs the SDR-to-lira conversion?
Article 1186(1) uses the Central Bank value on the actual payment date or another date agreed by the parties. Identify the date and source in the calculation.
Does insured value automatically replace the ordinary limit?
No. The qualifying declaration requires the shipper’s pre-loading statement of nature and value and the required transport-document entry. Insurance and carriage valuation have different functions.
How is the ordinary delay cap calculated?
Article 1186(6) uses 2.5 times the freight for the delayed goods, capped at the total contractual freight. Paragraph 7 also controls combined physical-loss and delay recovery.
Does alleging negligence always remove the limit?
No. Article 1187 requires its specified intentional or reckless conduct, awareness and causal elements. The actual evidence must satisfy the applicable statutory route.
Can the cap always be avoided by suing in tort instead of contract?
No. Article 1190 extends the relevant defences and limitation rules to the cargo claims against the carrier described there, regardless of that change in legal basis.
Primary sources and calculation records
Ministry of Justice legislation record for Law No. 6102; the Ministry’s statutory text, Articles 1186–1191 on PDF pages 236–238; and the IMF explanation of SDR. The hosted statutory reproduction is not presented as a separately certified 2026 consolidation. Keep the complete transport document, affected-cargo schedule, valuation evidence, declaration or higher-limit agreement and conversion source with the calculation.
Ask about a maritime compensation calculation
State the Turkish connection, goods affected, document package count and proposed settlement figure. Do not include bank credentials or confidential shipment documents in the initial enquiry.
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