INTERNATIONAL

CARRIAGE OF GOODS
BY SEA

Leontieva Sofia 
Yurchenko Mariya
 HISTORY DEVELOPMENT OF THE
CONTRACT

The law governing carriage of goods by sea developed much earlier

than that governing inland transportation.

The preclassical Greek city-states had well-developed laws dealing

with the carriage of goods by sea, along with specialized commercial
courts to settle disputes among carriers, shippers, and consignees.

The sea laws of the island of Rhodes achieved such prominence that

a part of them was carried, many centuries later, into the legislation
of Justinian.
 R O M A N A N D C O M M O N L AW R E G U L AT I O N O F T H E C O N T R A C T

In Roman law the contract of carriage did not achieve the status of a distinct In English common law the principles applying to the relationship between the
contractual form; jurisconsults dealt with it in the framework of the contractual carrier and his customers go back to a time when neither railways nor canals
forms known to them, such as deposit and hire of services or of goods. existed. 

In civil-law countries, the contract of carriage first achieved distinct form in the Whether influenced by Roman law or derived quite independently, early English
early 19th century.  decisions imposed on carriers the obligation not only to carry goods but to carry
them safely and to deliver them in good condition to the owner or his agent.
The French Civil Code of 1804, following the Romanist tradition, still dealt with
the contract of carriage as a species of the contract for the hire of services and The carrier was always liable for the loss of the goods and also liable for any
further subjected carriers to the same obligations as depositaries; but the French damage to the goods, unless he could prove that the loss or damage had resulted
Commercial Code of 1807 established a special legal regime for professional from an excepted cause. 
carriers, making the contract of carriage a distinct contractual form.
This duty of the carrier to deliver the goods safely was considered to exist
Subsequent civil and commercial legislation in civil-law countries gave expression without regard to obligations arising under any contract between the parties. It
to the same idea.  was imposed upon him by the law because he had been put in possession of
another’s goods. 
Today, in the civil-law world, the contract of carriage may be regarded as a
variation of the contract for the hire of services, namely, a contract whereby one of In legal language, this meant that the carrier was considered to be a bailee, who,
the parties engages to do something for the other party in consideration of a price in certain circumstances, was liable to the bailor if he failed to deliver the goods
agreed upon between them.  intact. This law of bailment developed in England long before the law of
contract. The contractual element of bailment was not stressed until after the 17th
Specifically, the contract of carriage of goods may be defined as the contract century. 
whereby a professional carrier engages to carry goods in accordance with a
determined mode of transport and within a reasonable time, with the understanding Today, in common-law countries, the rights and liabilities of shippers,
that the carriage of the goods is the principal object of the contract. consignees, and carriers are in the large majority of cases based on a contract of
carriage, whether express or tacit. 

The mere fact that, in the ordinary course of his business, a carrier accepts goods
for carriage and delivery implies the making of a contract of carriage.
 I N T E R N AT I O N A L R E G U L AT I O N :
HAGUE RULES AND HAGUE-VISBY RULE

The International Convention for the Unification of Certain “Hague-Visby Rules”, 1968
Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading, 1924 – “The Hague
Rules”
The rules did not aim to provide a self-sufficient code Even after the amendments the Hague-Visby rule are
regulating the contracts of carriage under bill of lading, but biased in favour of the carrier.  
were designed to establish a minimum set of rules and
obligations of the carrier. A good example of this is Art. IV 2 (a) that exempts the
carrier from any liability for loss or damage arising
The parties were still able to negotiate their own terms as
long as they did not contradict the Rules. from “act, neglect, or default of the master, mariner,
pilot, or the servants of the carrier in the navigation or
The Hague Rules only cover tackle-to-tackle period, meaning
in the management of the ship”.
that the carrier was able to exempt himself from all liability
until the cargo was over the deck of the vessels, even though
the carrier could be in control of the cargo during the whole
loading process.
In addition the majority of the countries only applied the
Rules to outward bills of lading leaving a great number of
contracts of carriage under bill of lading without the
minimum protection offered by the Hague Rules.
 INTERNATIONAL REGULATION OF THE CONTRACT: THE HAMBURG
RULES

The Hamburg Rules are the result of the United Nations Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea, which was adopted in
Hamburg on March 31, 1978 and came into force on November 1, 1992.

They were drafted largely as an answer to the concerns of developing nations that the Hague rules were unfair in some respects.
These concerns stemmed mainly from the fact that they were seen to be drawn up by the mainly ‘colonial maritime nations’ and
had the purpose of safeguarding and propagating their interests at the expense of other nations. The United Nations responded to
this concern by drafting the Hamburg Rules.

The Hamburg rules are far more than a simple amending of the Hague/Visby regime and came up with a completely different
approach to liability. Under the Hamburg Rules, it is the carrier that is responsible for the loss or damage of all goods unless they
can prove that they took all reasonable steps to avoid the loss.
The rules are also updated to take note of new technology, new cargos and new issues that can lead to losses being incurred.
The Hamburg Rules have not been an overwhelming success and although the Convention has been in force since 1992, non of the
major trading or shipping nations have signed up.
According to the OECD , the Hamburg Rules are held to govern less than five per cent of global shipping.

This may be due to the concerns held by many in the industry that the Hamburg Rules are unnecessarily hard on ship owners and
have over-compensated in their attempt to create a fairer balance between the parties to such contracts.
 INTERNATIONAL REGULATION OF THE CONTRACT: THE ROTTERDAM
RULES

The Comité Maritime International (CMI), the father of the Hague-Visby Rules,
realized that it was necessary to thoroughly revise and amend the Hague-Visby Rules,
and in 1988 this issue was placed on the agenda of its next Conference.  
The CMI in conjunction with UNICTRAL, the father of the Hamburg Rules, agreed on
elaborating a new set of rules that will replace both the Hamburg and the Hague-
Visby Rules.
After ten years of negotiation the result was the United Nations Convention on
Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea 2008,
hereinafter known as the Rotterdam Rules.
The Rotterdam rules have being designed to cover the transport of goods from door
to door, instead of the port-to-port or the tackle-to-tackle approach of the previous
sets of rules.
It was supposed to enter into force after the 20th UN Member State had signed.
Currently 24 countries have signed all together representing 25% of the world’s trade,
including the United States of America, Spain, France and the Netherlands. It seems
that there is a widespread support for the Convention, however the entry into force of
the new convention may take some time. The new convention represent a
compromise between cargo-provider and shipping nations, the question is whether its
entry in force will end the dispute between cargo and shipping interests.
INTERNATIONAL
TRADE TERMS IN
SEA
TRANSPORTATION
OF GOODS
 WHAT IS THE
CONTRACT OF
CARRIAGE?
 PARTICIPANTS OF RELATIONS

Buyer (consignee)
Seller (consignor) Contract of Sale

Consignee - a person to
whom the goods are
Consignor or shipper addressed and to whom
(charterer) - a person, the carrier
who delivers the goods should deliver the goods.
to the carrier for
transportation.

Incoterms®

Shipper Consignee

Carrier
Freight Carrier (ship-owner) - a
person who undertakes
Forwarder (i.e. agrees) to transport
the goods.
 KINDS OF CARRIERS

Characteristics of a common carrier: 

The characteristics of a common carrier are as follows:
1) The common carrier must be engaged in a regular
business of transportation of goods. A person who
occasionally transports the goods is not a common carrier.
2) The common carrier must  carry on his transportation Characteristics of a private carrier:
business for money. A person, who transports the goods 1) The private carrier is not engaged in the regular
free of charges, is not a common carrier. business of transportation of goods.
3) The common carrier must transport the goods only. A 2) The private carrier is not bound to transport the goods
carrier who carries passengers is not a common carrier. of all persons. He reserves the right to accept or reject
4) The common carrier may be an individual, a firm or a the goods offered to him for transportation.
company. Bu the government is not considered as a person 3) The private carrier transports the goods for selected
for this purpose. Thus, the post office is not a common persons of his own choice, and not for everybody.
carrier although it may carry goods. 4) The private carrier may also transport the goods
5) The term common carrier is applied to the transportation gratuitously i.e. without any charge.
of goods by land and inland water ways. It does not apply
to carriage by sea or air.
6) The common carrier must transport the goods of all
persons without any indiscrimination. As a matter of fact, a
common carrier is bound to transport the goods of any
person provided there is space in the vehicle. If he refuses
to transport the goods besides there being space in the
vehicle, then the carrier is liable to pay damages.
 THE FREIGHT DOCUMENTS

Bill of Lading (B/L) Seaway Bill

Mate’s receipt

Other transportation documents

 A BILL OF LADING
BILL OF LADING – a document acknowledging the
shipment of the goods, and containing the terms and
conditions upon which the goods are to be transported
by the ship. It is signed by the ship-owner or his
authorized agent or by the master of the ship. It should
also be stamped.
A bill of lading has 3 basic purposes or roles:
1. Evidence of Contract of Carriage
2. Receipt of Goods
3. Document of Title to the goods
A bill of lading is of the following types:
 Clean bill of lading
 Qualified bill of lading
 Through bill of lading
 Received for shipment bill of lading
A bill of lading issued in case of a general ship contains
the clauses in respect of terms of the contract of
affreightment. These are generally the same as contained
in a “charter party”. The clauses of a bill of lading should
state the following particulars:
1) Name of the parties
2) Name of the ship
3) Port of loading
4) Port of destination
5) Name of the consignee
6) Marks for the identification of the goods such as
number of package
7) Statement regarding the condition of the goods and
their quantity or quality or weight
8) Other terms and conditions of contract of
affreightment such as amount of freight, expected perils
Etc.
 SOURCES

• The United Nations Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea. 1924.

• International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules of Law relating to Bills of Lading
(1924)/First Protocol (1968)/Second Protocol (1979).
• The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or
Partly by Sea 2008.
• Canadian law of carriage of goods by sea: an overview. Prepared by Christopher J. Giaschi.
Giaschi & Margolis, Vancouver, 2004.
• Contracts of Carriage, Carriage of General Cargo. Lectures by: Researcher, Dr. Ellen Eftestol-
Wilhelmsson. 
• When does a Bill of Lading become a Contract of Carriage? Hariesh Manaadiar. 2018.
• Wilson J F, (2010). Carriage of Goods by Sea. 7th ed. England: Pearson.
Thank you for your attention!