Analyzing Obligations Of The Shipper Were Strengthened In The Rotterdam Rules

United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea as the Rotterdam Rules was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 11 December 2008. It is the new milestone in the field of international law of carriage of goods by see. And it makes a comprehensive provision on the rights and liabilities of the parties in marine transport and emphasizes the symmetry and congruity of the rights and liabilities. One of the most significant issues that The Rotterdam Rules try to solve is how to delimit obligations of the shipper and balance the interests between the cargo and the ship. Hamburg Rules and Hague Rules are the legislative model which focus on the obligations and responsibilities of carrier and have very little attention on the shipper's, there are only a small number of provisions relating to the shipper's obligations and responsibilities. But the Rotterdam Rules is a perfection of the legal system which regulates the relationship between carrier and shipper.This paper first focused on analyzing how the derivative shipper changes and its causation under the maritime transport laws. Then ascertained the scope of the shiper in the paper as the same in Rotterdam Rules. "Shipper" means a person that enters into a contract of carriage with a carrier. And then comparative analyzing the changes and the differences of obligations and responsibilities of shipper in Hague Rules, Hamburg Rules and the Rotterdam Rules, it will find that the construction of shipper obligations legal system and substantive obligations under new convention were both strengthened. And it is tried to seek the profound reasons that cause the strengthen of obligations and responsibilities of the shipper. And also contrasting with Chinese Maritime Code, hopefully it would be helpful for the China legislations in the future with amending of Chinese Maritime Code on the obligations of the shipper.