This book addresses the legal and contractual obligations of sea carriers regarding due care for the cargo under a contract of carriage. While the general framework employed is the leading international liability regime, the Hague-Visby Rules, the discussions in each chapter also account for the possible future adoption of a new regime, the Rotterdam Rules. The subject matter concerns the standard for the duty of care for goods as codified in the Hague-Visby Rules, but the work also touches upon a wide range of related topics found both in law and in practice, providing valuable commercial, technical and historical links as well as various solutions that have been found at the national and international level to address challenges arising in this specialised area of law. The book is divided into six chapters, which gradually reveal the complexity of the topic. Chapter 1 provides a thorough introduction to the two main transport documents in use, and to the basic logic behind shipping, sea-going trade and related national and international legislation. In turn, Chapter 2 presents an overview of the relevant provisions of the Hague-Visby Rules. Chapters 3, 4 and 5 examine the problems arising out of the insertion of a FIOS(T) clause in the contract of carriage; the carriage of goods on deck; and the carriage of goods in containers, respectively. Lastly, Chapter 6 provides an overall conclusion on the legal status quo and current practice, as well as future prospects. The book was written with a number of potential readers in mind and is intended to open up the topic to a broader audience. It is suitable both for readers who wish to advance their learning (e.g. professionals, practitioners and postgraduates) and for readers with little or no prior knowledge of the topic (e.g. students and researchers).

Uniformity of Transport Law through International Regimes addresses the problem of uniformity of transport law and the potential solutions at international and EU levels. It concerns transport conventions and other instruments dealing mainly with carriage of goods by sea and multimodal transport as well as examining the Rotterdam Rules as one of the solutions towards uniformity in carriage of goods law. The discussion on international uniformity in transport law is complemented by an examination of regional harmonization in the context of EU law-making and jurisprudence in the field of international transport. The comparison between international and regional regimes reveals the complexities in application and interpretation of the certain transport conventions which is detrimental to achieving uniformity.

This book, written in three parts, covers the basics of the international trade, financing and the legal framework related to the law of carriage of goods by sea, elaborates on bills of lading in depth and sea waybills and ship’s delivery orders in brief and charterparties in depth. While the book is based on the English law, cases and materials from other jurisdictions, particularly Singapore, Malaysia, India, the USA, and Australia are brought in to provide an international perspective. The practical analyses, commentary and critiques of cases would be a useful guide for practitioners in developing case arguments. Although written with practitioners, academicians and students in mind, the book will also serve as a useful guide for sea carriers, freight forwarders, international traders, financiers, etc. as the complex subject is presented in reader-friendly and easy to grasp manner.

The Rotterdam Rules represent the most comprehensive overhaul of the law of carriage of goods by sea in more than fifty years. To coincide with the signing ceremony, six members of the Institute of Maritime Law have written a detailed commentary on the Rules. The Rotterdam Rules: A Practical Annotation examines the text of the Rules, all ninety-six articles of the new Convention, and compares them to the text of the Hague-Visby Rules, the instrument currently covering most bills of lading. The authors have also examined the judgments in cases decided in the English Courts under the Carriage of Goods by Sea Acts of 1971 and 1992 and have indicated whether these cases would be decided differently under the new Rotterdam Rules.

Ever-increasing numbers of dangerous goods are carried by sea today. Worldwide concern with the risk posed by this increased frequency has led to the adoption of international technical standards to promote maritime safety and the insertion of special provisions in the carriage contracts. Moreover, growing environmental awareness and concern with the economic cost implications of maritime casualties have given rise to the regulation of liability and compensation.

Written by a combination of top academics, industry experts and leading practitioners, this book offers a detailed insight into both unimodal and multimodal carriage of goods. It provides a comprehensive and thoroughly practical guide to the issues that matter today on what is a very complex area of law. From the papers delivered at the 8th International Colloquium organised by Swansea Law School's prestigious Institute of International Shipping and Trade Law, this original work considers current opinions, trends and issues arising from contracts of carriage of goods by sea, land, air, and multi-modal combinations of these, not to mention the legal position of vital participants such as freight forwarders, terminal operators and cargo insurers. The topics under discussion range through issues such as paperwork, piracy, liability for defective containers, damage in transit, the CMR Convention, and the possible effects of the Rotterdam Rules. An indispensable resource for transport lawyers, industry professionals, academics and post-graduate students of maritime law.

International multimodal transport has been developed rapidly in recent 50 years and the worldwide use of containers made a valuable contribution. There are various effective international conventions for different modes of transport and this monograph focuses on the fundamental parts of the international multimodal transport, container carrier’s liability regime. The central research question is has the current liability regime provided a sufficient framework for container carriers in international multimodal transport? The question can be divided into three issues. Firstly, how wide should the scope of application of the international unimodal conventions be to cover the period of liability of container carrier in international multimodal transport? Secondly, do the existing conventions provide a proper and satisfactory framework to govern container carrier’s liability? Thirdly, if not, what solutions can be adopted? In order to answer the above questions, the novelty of this monograph lies on experiences gained from recent case law in relation to container transport. This monograph does not only discover problems in the existing legal system but also provides feasible suggestions for container carrier’s liability regime based on the Rotterdam Rules.

This text provides the user with a clear introduction to the Hamburg rules, including a clause-by-clause commentary on the interpretation of the rules. This revised edition includes case studies showing how some major Hague-Visby cases would have been decided by applying the Hamburg rules, a summary of the articles on the subject, together with a list of other sources of information. The views of two practitioners is complimented by the offical UNCTAD commentary to present a balanced analysis of the rules.

Providing a lucid analysis of the law of carriage of goods by sea in its entirety, text addresses principles, regulation, responsibilities, and obligations within this area of English law. References to major Commonwealth cases add valuable context to the broad coverage.