The slabs arrived cracked. Who pays?
Cracked can mean four different things: a production defect, poor packing, rough handling, or water damage at sea. Four different parties are liable. How you document on site decides who ends up paying.
First: production defect or transit damage?
A defect crack usually follows the stone's own veining or a hidden fissure, with a discoloured break face and no fresh powder. Transit damage shows a fresh break, impact marks or crush points on edges, and clusters at pallet corners and the bottom layer. This single judgement decides whether you go to the supplier, the insurer or the carrier.
How do you take photos that actually work?
Four angles, none optional: the whole pallet, showing position; a close-up of the cracked slab, showing the break face; the packing condition, whether the pallet is intact or crushed; and the first photo taken with the container doors opened. Add a continuous video walking from the doors to the damaged position. Photos without a reference point are practically unusable in a claim.
Insurer or supplier?
Look at the proportion and the cause first. Minor edge damage is usually packing or handling, and the supplier replaces or discounts above the agreed breakage rate. A whole container with moisture damage or widespread crushing is closer to a transport casualty and goes to insurance. You can file both in parallel, but the contract must state who bears breakage above a given rate, or the two sides will simply push it back and forth.
What breakage rate is normal?
The number belongs in the contract, not in custom. Without it you will hear that a little breakage in transit is normal. Agree a percentage, agree that anything above it is replaced or credited at unit price, and agree who pays the freight on replacements — freight, not slab value, is usually the actual argument.
Is there a deadline for claiming?
Yes, and usually a short one. If damage is not noted at collection, it becomes very hard to assert later. Sea carriage claims generally require written notice to the carrier within a short period after delivery, and insurance claims have their own filing window. So evidence must be gathered at the devanning site, not after the goods have sat in your warehouse for several days.
How do you avoid a repeat?
Three things: a breakage clause in the contract, void filling plus a photo of the open doors at loading, and mandatory inspection at devanning on arrival. The first is your basis afterwards, the second is prevention, the third is evidence. Do all three and the rate drops noticeably, because the other side knows you check.