Warehouse and logistics agreements that match how goods move through your business

Problems often arise at the handover points. Goods may be damaged, delayed, miscounted, stored incorrectly or released without clear authority, and the parties then discover they never properly agreed who carries the risk. A well-drafted agreement can set out service levels, liability positions, claims processes, insurance expectations and operational responsibilities in a way that matches the arrangement on the ground. That matters especially where warehousing, transport and customer delivery involve different parties or overlapping responsibilities.

It will usually deal with the services being provided, storage and handling obligations, delivery or dispatch processes, stock control, fees, invoicing, liability for loss or damage, insurance, service standards, confidentiality, termination and what happens to goods on exit. Depending on the arrangement, it may also need schedules for operating procedures, reporting, pickup authorities or special handling requirements. The drafting should be matched to the commercial arrangement, the documents already in use and the facts around how the work is performed, not just the title of the contract.

Key details include what goods are being handled, whether they are high value, perishable or regulated, where risk passes, who controls transport, how inventory is tracked, what turnaround times are expected and whether subcontractors are involved. If personal information is handled through delivery records, customer contacts or tracking systems, that can also affect the drafting. The wording should reflect the information your business collects, the reasons it is used and the parties it is shared with, as well as how the logistics process works in practice.

A template may be too general once your arrangement includes multiple service stages, custom operating procedures or non-standard risk allocation. For example, a basic form may not deal properly with stock discrepancies, authority to release goods, shrinkage, damaged inventory, storage conditions or the split between warehouse services and transport services. A tailored agreement is more useful where the factual working arrangement can matter as much as the contract wording. This service is for the contract itself, rather than broader supply chain advisory work.

Timing depends on how complex the arrangement is and how quickly you can provide the commercial details. After you engage us, we gather the practical information needed for the agreement, prepare the draft and work through any required changes within the included scope. If the arrangement involves unusual risk allocation, multiple parties or detailed operating schedules, that can affect timing. The fixed-fee covers the stated drafting work, but not negotiations with the other side, dispute representation or implementation of warehouse systems and procedures.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Warehouse And Logistics Agreement service, pricing starts from $900.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers, who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006) our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses provided they do not provide services in certain 'reserved' areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (being small business and startup law), we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.