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Law of Carriage of Goods by Sea - Wikipedia

The law of carriage of goods by sea governs the rights and duties of shippers, carriers, and consignees involved in marine cargo transport. It is concerned with cargo claims and forms part of international commercial and maritime law. The key obligations of carriers are to provide a seaworthy ship, issue bills of lading, and properly handle cargo. Consignees can make claims against sellers, shippers, or carriers if goods are damaged or lost at sea. Several international conventions have been established to standardize this area of law.

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88 views15 pages

Law of Carriage of Goods by Sea - Wikipedia

The law of carriage of goods by sea governs the rights and duties of shippers, carriers, and consignees involved in marine cargo transport. It is concerned with cargo claims and forms part of international commercial and maritime law. The key obligations of carriers are to provide a seaworthy ship, issue bills of lading, and properly handle cargo. Consignees can make claims against sellers, shippers, or carriers if goods are damaged or lost at sea. Several international conventions have been established to standardize this area of law.

Uploaded by

Harel Santos Rosacia
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Law of carriage of

goods by sea

The law of carriage of goods by sea is a


body of law that governs the rights and
duties of shippers, carriers and
consignees of marine cargo.[1]

Primarily concerned with cargo claims,


this body of law is an aspect of
international commercial law and
maritime law.
The typical obligations of a carrier by sea
to a shipper of cargo are:

to provide a seaworthy ship


to issue a bill of lading
to "properly and carefully load, handle,
stow, carry, keep, care for, and discharge
the goods carried".[2]
to proceed with "reasonable despatch"[3]
to follow the agreed route (and not to
deviate from it).[4][5]

Cargo claims
Consignees (or indeed any lawful holder of
the bill of lading)[6] who wishes to make a
cargo claim because their goods are
substandard or have been lost or damaged
at sea, typically have four options:

They may sue the seller, the shipper, or


the carrier; or they may claim from their
own insurance policy.
A suit will lie against the seller if the
seller has insufficient title,[7] or the
goods are not of satisfactory quality,[8]
or do not comply with sample[9] or
description.[10]
A suit will lie against the shipper if the
goods are damaged through insufficient
packing,[11][12] or if any loss is suffered
through insufficient labelling.[13][14][15]
A suit will lie against the carrier if the
damage occurred aboard ship.[16] The
carrier's P&I Club cover will normally
bear the cost.
If the cargo is damaged where the
shipper without fault (e.g. if the goods
have been properly packed and stowed)
or if the carrier is either blameless or
exempted from liability[17] (e.g. because
of 'Act of God' or 'Justifiable Deviation'),
[18][19][20] [21] a cargo-owner will have to
claim on his own cargo policy.
A claim having been paid, the assured's
rights of claim will be subrogated to the
insurer, who may consider proceeding
against a party who has caused the
damage.

A shipowner may sue a time-charterer or


voyage-charterer in the event of breach of
contract. For instance, if the charterer
exceeds laytime, demurrage will have to be
paid; and if the charterer cannot comply
with a Notice of Readiness (NOR), the
shipowner may repudiate (cancel) the
contract of carriage and claim damages
for any loss.[22]
Carriage conventions
In most contracts of carriage the carrier
has greater bargaining power than the
shipper, and in the 19th century English
judges developed rules to protect the
weaker parties.[23] Beginning with the
Hague Rules, the various conventions set
out to codify and develop such common
law principles by providing an international
set of basic standards to be met by the
carrier, with a view to establishing a
universal framework of legal rights and
duties. In practice, however, the level of
protection was actually reduced because
of new provisions allowing the carrier to (i)
limit his liability, and (ii) rely on a wide
array of exemptions from liability [24][25][26]
Also, whereas up until about 1885,[27] the
carrier's duties were deemed to be strict,
by 1905 the duty became one of
"reasonable care" or "due diligence"
only.[28]

The Hague Rules of 1924 effectively


codified, albeit in a diluted form, the
English common law rules to protect the
cargo owner against exploitation by the
carrier. Nearly 50 years later, the Hague-
Visby "update" made few changes, so that
the newer Rules still applied only to "tackle
to tackle" carriage (i.e. carriage by sea)
and the container revolution of the 1950s
was virtually ignored. The Hague-Visby
Rules both excluded cabotage carriage,
and declared that deck cargo and live
animals were not to be considered as
"goods" (although the Carriage of Goods
by Sea Act 1971 provided that cabotage,
deck cargo and live animals are to be
covered in English contracts).

The enormous list of exemptions to


liability in Article IV made the Rules seem
biased in favour of the carrier. As a result,
The United Nations produced its own
Hamburg Rules which were both more
modern and fairer to cargo-owners; but
while these have been enthusiastically
adopted by developing nations, the
wealthier ship-owning nations have stuck
to Hague-Visby. In 2008 the final text of
the Rotterdam Rules was agreed at
UNCITRAL.[29] These Rules are very
extensive, with over 90 Articles against 11
in Hague-Visby. Although the Rotterdam
Rules are up-to-date and address
multimodal carriage, they have, nine years
later, yet to be in force. It now seems
doubtful that the Rotterdam Rules will ever
be adopted, but there is a slim possibility
that a cut-down version of the Rules
("Rotterdam Lite") might find favour.
China has effectively adopted the Hague
Rules. The USA, which tends to shun
conventions and instead rely on
homespun legislation, has its own
statutes. These comprise the Carriage of
Goods by Sea Act (a mildly updated
version of the Hague Rules for goods in
foreign commerce), and the Harter Act (for
mostly domestic carriage).[30]

Relevant statutes and sources


Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971 - UK
Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992 - UK
Carriage of Goods by Sea Act - (USA)
Harter Act - USA
References
1. The Law of Carriage of Goods by Sea
(2011) - L.Singh
2. Hague-Visby Rules Art III rule 2.
3. M’Andrew v Adams (1834) 1 Bing NC
29
4. Glynn v Margetson
5. Hague-Visby Rules Art IV rule 4.
6. Bill of lading, or sea way bill or ship's
delivery order: Carriage of Goods by
Sea Act 1992 ss.1 & 2
7. Sale of Goods Act1979 (as amended),
section 12
8. Sale of Goods Act1979 (as amended),
section 14
9. Sale of Goods Act1979 (as amended),
section 15
10. Sale of Goods Act1979 (as amended),
section 13
11. Hague Visby Rules Art. IV Rule 2(n)
12. Goodwin v Lamport and Holt [1929] All
ER 623
13. Hague Visby Rules Art. III
14. Parsons v New Zealand Shipping
[1901] KB 548
15. Bunge v Brasil [2009] 2 Lloyds Rep 175
16. Hague-Visby Rules Arts. II & III
17. Hague-Visby Rules Art IV
18. The Teutonia (1872) LR 4 PC 171
19. The Al Taha [1990] 2 LL R 117
20. Stag Line v Foscolo, Mango & Co
[1932] AC 328
21. Scaramanga v Stamp (1880) 5 CPD
295
22. Maredelanto Compania Naviera SA v
Bergbau-Handel GmbH|The Mihalis
Angelos
23. M'Andrew v Adams (1834) 1 Bing NC
29
24. ...such as "Act of God", "Perils of the
Sea" and "negligence in navigation or
management of the ship").
25. e.g. Hague-Visby Rules Art. IV (1) & (2)
26. Principles of the Carriage of Goods by
Sea -Paul Todd
27. The Glenfruin (1885) 10 PD 103
28. McFadden v Blue Star Line [1905] 1 KB
697
29. UNCITRAL: United Nations
Commission of International Trade
Law.
30. Lexolology report [1]

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