Carriage of Goods by Sea

This report breaks down the laws that govern international marine and sea transportation, including the definition of terms, seaworthiness, and international maritime laws. It also discusses the remedies available to carriers and shippers in case of breaches. The report also explores the Hague-Visby Rules and the duties of carriers and shippers.

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CARRIAGE OF GOODS BY SEA
Name
Institution
Date

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Carriage of Goods by Sea
Executive Summary
This report breaks down the laws that govern international marine. Thus, the sections of the
report are broken in the following manner;
A) The introduction part provides that perspective and insight into international shipping laws.
Through its breakdown of international laws and the provision of clarity in their implementation,
it sets the stage for examining the international maritime laws and their remedies.
B) The definition of terms for the maritime laws boosts the understanding of navigating
through the maritime reports for a better understanding. This report begins with a broad
definition of seaworthiness according to the common law jurisdiction. Other main terminologies
that are defined include; carrier, contract of carriage and carriage of goods.
C) The literature review is the section that bears the main flesh of the report, providing an
understanding of the international laws that govern marine and sea transportation. Through the
provision of the remedies for a carrier or owner of a ship involved in an accident, much of the
maritime laws have been discussed and deliberated on. Also, the purpose and the importance of
the laws have been highlighted in the report.

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Contents
Executive Summary............................................................................................................................................... 2
Introduction.............................................................................................................................................................. 4
Methodology............................................................................................................................................................. 5
Definition of Terms................................................................................................................................................ 6
Seaworthiness meaning at common law.................................................................................................. 6
Other definitions of terms include.............................................................................................................. 7
Literature Review................................................................................................................................................... 7
Remedies for seaworthiness......................................................................................................................... 7
Understanding Maritime International Laws......................................................................................... 9
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................................... 11
References............................................................................................................................................................... 12

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Introduction
Merchant shipping industry is highly regulated given it represents a larger scope of international
safety. Therefore, regulations covering carriage of goods at sea are normally formulated at the
international level. Shipping covers an international scope creating a vitality for subjecting
shipping to regulations that are uniform on the matters like; standards of construction, standards
of competence for the crew and the rules of navigation. Other alternatives open up room for red
tape which conflict and leads to administrative confusion and commercial distortion creating
confusion and compromise on world trade practices’ efficiency. The distortion and confusion
would bring compromise on the efficiency of world trade (Baughen 2015). The IMO is the
United Nations agency that is based in London and is responsible for the sea’s life safety and the
marine environment protection. National governments have the requirement to enforce and
implement the international rules for purposes of ensuring the compliance of ships registered
under their national flags (Marshall 2012). IMO conventions have a high level of enforcement
and ratification when compared to the adoption of international rules for the industries that are
shore based. The countries in which the registration of ship merchants took place, has the
responsibility to enforce IMO regulations that concern environmental protection and ship safety,
and could not be the countries under which the ships are owned. The enforcement of IMO
requirements is done by the flag states through ship inspections that are conducted by
international surveyors’ network (Bo 2017). The state enforcement practice is however
supplemented by Port State Control in which the officials in the countries visited by a ship can
carry out the inspection of foreign flag ships for purposes of ensuring compliance with the
international requirements (Julian 2007). The regulation of the seaworthiness of ships helps to
regulate the safety of ships at sea. However, there are remedies for a carrier whose ship is
involved in an accident. So long as the carrier ensured that his ship is seaworthy enough and able

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to take on serious conditions of the sea, he is remedied. More of the remedy situations have been
discussed below.
Methodology
There are many ways of data analysis. Two common data collection methods include primary
and secondary data collection methods. Primary methods involve getting data directly from the
source. However, secondary data collection methods involve indirect ways of collecting data.
Secondary data have been used in conducting this research. In particular, websites, journals, and
case studies were instrumental in deliberating on the maritime laws on an international
perspective. Primary data was not used as no interview or survey was conducted. Utilizing the
information on the internet was enough to evaluate, discuss and analyze the provision of the law
concerning international maritime laws. The use of journals and cases are important in the
development of an argument around a particular law or statute. Since other scholars have
deliberated on it before, it will be worthwhile to use their discussions to make comparisons and
draw conclusions.
Definition of Terms
Seaworthiness meaning
Charterparties and other contracts pertaining to the goods’ sea carriage have no clear definition
of seaworthiness. More often than not, the usual wording for its meaning is, ‘tight and fit’ or
‘strong and staunch’. The consequences that arise from that are discussed below;
a) Structural fitness: loading stage
The loading stage is the antecedent phase contained at sea voyage. During the stage of loading, it
is established that the vessel must be fitting for the receivership of cargo or the encounter of the
loading stage’s perils (Wilson 2008). In McFadden v Blue Star Line, Channell J made an

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explanation thus, “the warranty is that at the time the goods are put on board she is fit to receive
them and to encounter the ordinary perils that are likely to arise during the loading stage; but that
there is no continuing warranty after the goods are once on board that the ship continue fit to
hold the goods during that stage and until she is ready to go to sea, notwithstanding an accident
that may happen to her in the meantime” (Brown).
Owing to the indication of Channell J, this obligation ends once there is the completion of the
loading stage.
b) Structural fitness: commencement of the voyage
The provision of a seaworthy vessel needs the vessel that is fit structurally, for the intended
voyage (Xu 2017). In Steel v State Line Steamship Co, the orlop deck of a vessel was fastened
insufficiently and during the voyage, water entered through the port causing damages to a cargo
of wheat (Forrest 2017). Owing to that, the House of Lords held that there was an obligation that
was implied to tender a vessel that was seaworthy thus remitting the case to the Court of Session.
That remittance was for the purpose of determining whether the cause of the loss was
unseaworthiness. The subsequent finding of the court was that the vessel was proven to be
unseaworthy (Guilfoyle 2017). Therefore, if a vessel is not able to cope with stormy weather or
the rough seas, she is not seaworthy.
Other definitions of terms include;
a) Carrier – refers to the owner of ship or charterer in a contract of carriage with a shipper.
b) Contract of carriage – this is applicable to the contracts of carriage covered by lading bill or
any document of similarity in the far the document is related to the goods’ carriage through the
water (Van 2016). That is inclusive of any bill of lading or any document that is similar.

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c) Carriage of goods – this covers the time period involving the loading of goods to the
discharge of goods from the ship (Terence 2008).
Literature Review
Remedies for seaworthiness
Remedies available to the charter when the shipowner breaches his obligation to provide a
seaworthy vessel. According to international laws, some of the remedies available to the
charterer when the owner of the ship breaches the obligation for the provision of seaworthy
vessels are discussed below.
An innocent misrepresentation by a ship owner that may induce a charterer to sign a contract
would give window for the charterer to sue for damages. A charter may also repudiate a
charterparty is the ship owner’s misrepresentation is fraudulent. The ship owner will be liable to
pay for all the damages accrued.
The ship owner also has an obligation to the charterer, as concerns the delivery of his vessel. The
ship owner needs to specify the place or port of delivery. In certain circumstances, only certain
parts of the port is mentioned or certain areas or port ranges are determined. The charterer
normally choses the delivery place in the case that only a range or area is mentioned. In the case
that the charterparty fails to provide in an express manner the time when the charterers need to
provide directions for the delivery berth, it will necessarily be inferred that directions would have
to be provided either on the point of the vessel’s arrival or before its arrival. In the case that the
vessels makes a too early arrival at the delivery port, there is no obligation for the charterer to
make delivery before layday. The charterer will then have the entitlement of cancelling the
agreement.

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Ship owners also have the obligation of delivery the sea vessel to the charterer in the condition of
seaworthiness. The Charterer also have the right to claim that the ship must have the ultimate
conformation of all the contract’s requirements. The ship owner also has the obligation of
maintaining the good condition of the ship in the whole charter period. If the ship owner fails to
maintain the vessel in an efficient state, the charterer is entitled to sue the ship owner for
damages.
The ship owner undertakes for the ship to proceed with utmost dispatch, at all voyages. Unless
an exception clause covers a ship owner, he/she bears the risk of delays.
Understanding Maritime International Laws
It is a requirement that the furniture of the ship has adequate sufficiency for the voyage. It was
also supposed to undergo furnishing with persons who have enough abilities and skills for
navigating the ship. MacLachlan also made citing of six cases from the law report with the
Abbott’s cited authorities. Such treaties have the importance of demonstrating the development
of the English law’s seaworthiness (Dominioni, Heine and Martinez Romera 2018).
The maritime law is important in the regulation of sea freight and transportation. However,
maritime laws involving transportation is quite complex in application. That is because, for one,
the undertaking involves several parties that consist of several undertakings and subsequent
liabilities and duties on the respective parties (Allsop 2016). A scenario that illustrates this is, for
instance, the owner of a ship charters a vessel to a time charter, who has plans for using the
vessel but later opt to sub-charter the vessel to a sub-charterer for a voyage. In that situation, the
same vessel will be in use in different constellations with varying parties (Naeem, Henrique and
Hu 2016). That will involve one voyage and one-time charter and in addition to that, there may
be the issuance of bills lading and several booking notes. The relations, liability, and duties of
the respective parties are described below;

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Owner Time chartered
Put the vessel at the time charters disposal Provide payment to the hire
Right time, ship, place, according to description Use a vessel within limits
In the right condition Pay the costs that are connected to
The vessel’s commercial use
The comparison above draws the different details as far as the distribution of liability and cost is
concerned, as a repercussion to the contractual solutions that were chosen by the involved
parties. The difference between was chosen by the involved parties (Wu 2016). The difference
between time charter and the voyage is the fact that the owner, with the connection of the voyage
charter, has more liability for more costs and more responsibility than when connected with the
time charter.
In common law an, in particular, the English law; the owner has a duty of delivering the ship on
the day that was agreed on, under the charter party. In that case, any kind of delays would allow
the charterer to make termination of the charter (Churchill & Lowe 1999). In common law, the
owner does not have the power for demanding from the charterer, if he is prepared for accepting
the vessel if there is a delay. However, the owner has an obligation to send the vessel having
been late in delivery while facing the risk of the charterer’s refusal to accept the delivery.
Viewing it from an economist perspective, the state of the law is very harsh on the owner of the
ship.
Part B
Hague-Visby Rules
Hague-Visby Rules refers to the international rule that unifies certain rules of law that relates to
the First Protocol (1968), Bills of Lading and Second Protocol. Hague-Visby Rules was first

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drafted in the year 1924 in Brussels. Its premise was that a shipper bore less bargaining power
than a carrier. It strives for the protection of the cargo-owner’s interests by imposing minimum
obligations of affreightment upon the carrier. Carriers’ duties are well stipulated under the
Hague-Visby Rules. The main duties of the carrier under the rules of Hague-Visby are to
carefully carry, care for, load, keep, stow and undertake discharge of the carried goods. The
carrier is also expected to diligently equip, man and supply the ship as well as making it
seaworthy. Although the common law does not allow the deviation from the usual or agreed
route, Article IV (4) bears the provision for allowed deviation for purposes of attempting to or
saving property or life at sea. Therefore, reasonable deviation will not be considered as an
infringement or breach of the Hague-Visby Rules. The provisions of the Hague-Visby Rules also
include the shipper’s duties. Essentially, the following obligations of a shipper are not
enforceable; freight payment, sufficient packing of goods for journey, accurate and honest
description of goods, never to ship the cargoes deemed as dangerous and reading goods for
shipment.
The Bill of Lading As A Receipt Under The Hague/Visby Rules
The Bill of Lading mainly serves the purpose of providing evidence of the following; receipt of
goods transported by sea, contract of carriage and a document of title. It basically acknowledges
the condition of goods, their quantity and their leading marks. Any claim of cargo by the receiver
if the goods are short delivered or are damaged, is done according to the Bill of Lading. Under
international conventions, the carrier has no obligation to acknowledge the shipped cargo’s
quantity or issue a bill of lading. The exception to that is when there is an existing request by the
shipper. Essentially, a buyer could refuse to accept the cargo or document in a contract of Cost

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Insurance and Freight, when there is mismatch in the goods’ description and that in the invoice
of sales.
The composition of Article III rule 3 of The Hague/Visby Rules has the provision that the
carrier, his/her master must issue a bill of lading to the shipper upon demand. The bill of lading
would compose of the following; Leading marks needed to identify goods as similar to that a
shipper furnishes in writing before the goods are loaded. The bill of lading should also contain
the quantity, pieces or packages or weight as the shipper furnishes in writing along with the
condition and order of goods.
The assignees and consignees of the bill of lading do not have the right to demand for the
compliance with the rule, if there is no request made for issuing a bill of lading. As influenced by
the information that the shipper needs to issue or provide, he/she creates the choice for the three
methods of measuring the quantity of the cargo. The carrier is however under no obligation for
the acknowledgement of more than one of the three methods and is capable of denying the
knowledge of the other methods. The indemnity is ineffective only in the condition that the
carrier is aware of the statement’s falseness. However Article III have no provision for the
validity indication of that kind of indemnity when the carrier have the knowledge of the
fabrication of the information supplied. The article have no inclusion of any obligation for the
carriers’ inspection of the cargo before such a statement is granted in the bill.
When there is no opportunity or reasonable means of inspecting the conditions of the goods that
have been received, the carrier may refute the acknowledgment of the received goods’ condition.
Conclusion
The remedies provided by law concerning the seaworthiness of ships are clear and simple
enough to understand. For example, the laws first set the responsibilities and obligations of the

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chip carrier and the owner of the ship and transitions to providing the remedies available for the
breaker of the law. One area that was interesting was the provision that a seaworthy vessel needs
to be able to sustain the risks that might occur during the voyage. In case of a disaster and the
vessel is damaged, will it be automatically valid that the ship was unseaworthy given it was
damaged? Sea vessels could sustain damages if there is an accident or storm in the sea whether it
was built to sustain the risks that might present themselves in the journey or not. Therefore, there
should be some light on the ways used to assess from damages incurred whether the vessel was
prepared to handle harsh condition or not.

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