Carrier’s Obligations as to Seaworthiness and Duty of Care in Contracts of Affreightment

The main aim of this study is to examine the carrier’s duty under the international conventions on bills of lading, not least the Hague regimes, to analyze certain contradictions and ambiguities which undermine the objectives of these international conventions. To achieve this, there is the need to identify the conflicts and tensions, the gaps in legislation and litigation under the previous and current conventions by setting out the problematic provisions, the main court decisions related to those provisions, and the manner in which these provisions were interpreted in those particular cases. Subsequently, the thesis explores the solutions that were adopted by the new convention, the Rotterdam Rules 2008, which have yet to come into force, to establish that.

Despite all the advantages of the new convention in relation to the extension of the period of responsibility to create a balance between the shipper and carrier, it is not without its drawbacks as there will be discussion centered around whether it succeeds or fails to accomplish the most important goal for which it was established; namely to unify the work internationally. Even under the Rotterdam Rules, in some cases the uniform approach makes matters worse and can lead the national courts to interpret the rules differently as the ability to apply other conventions regarding the multimodal transport is mentioned in the new Rotterdam Rules. Also, although these rules provide greater uniformity regarding the carrier definition than its counterparts previously did, Article 40 (3) of the Rotterdam Rules may impose the liability on a person who is not a party to the contract.

replacing the carrier’s basis responsibility with the obligation of conduct, although it is the most appropriate and only option that can be relied upon to end ambiguity and confusion, but this may be considered by some as unacceptable for maritime transport operations of a special nature characterized by risks.

Also relying on a principle that contained in the civil law system and the opinions of Islamic Sharia Scholars, as it will be explained, is an unacceptable departure from the common law principles, in addition, this criterion will result in an increase in freight rates, but the Author has strong response for these three opinions, which will be mentioned at this research to conclude that there is no situation will be straightened except by changing the carrier’s liability system.