On Some Problems Relating To Ship Manager's Civil Liabilities

Compared with international ship management industry, ship manager in our country has just arisen and is faced with opportunities as well as challenges at same time. To solve problems properly, it is necessary that there exist consummate laws and regulations on ship manager. However in our country, there is almost a vacuum in this area, especially on the civil liabilities aspect.Therefore, in this article, the author tries to use the basic theories of civil law while referring to the regulations in foreign countries to study on the problems relating to ship manager' civil liabilities and has reached the following opinions:(i) Ship manager is a separate company who is expressly appointed by anagreement to manage the vessel or vessels of a company for its owners; (ii) As the assignee of the owner, ship manager will be held liable for breachof contract or for tort; (iii) Because of his far-ranging liabilities, ship manager should be entitled toliability limitation and take on liability insurance;(iv) After the implementation of ISM Code, ship manager may take the responsibilities of the ship's management on safety and environmental protection and accordingly, take on more liabilities.