The Shipping Guarantee Some Legal Issues

Maritime Letter of Guarantee (L/G) is a usual document in shipping practice. It is widely used in practice and operates as lubrication oil for the fluent development of trading and shipping industry. But the generating and use of maritime L/G is always capping with the shadow of fraudulence. As a result of the uncertainty of its legal effective, it inversely threatens the normal order of the international trade, which has been established, especially the shipping and trading legal system, in which the B/L is acts as a center. This article intends to start with the nature and effect of the maritime L/G, and to make a discussion on the legal problems arising from the practice of the maritime L/G.Firstly, this Article introduced the reason of generation of the Maritime L/G and the main type at present, and further, it analyzed the benefit and negative significance that the maritime L/G brought to the parties to the cargo carriage. On the basis of analyzing the nature of the maritime L/G, the writer brought forward some personal opinions on the concept of the maritime L/G. According to different opinions on the nature of maritime L/G of China, major shipping countries in the world and the scholars, the writer, after analysis, concluded that the legal nature of the L/G, according to whether it was issued by the shipper or consignee itself, could be classified into general contract and compound contract. The general contract is a contract that the shipper or the consignee guarantees to the carrier that it will undertake the liability and compensate the losses. The compound contract is a compound of the general contract and the contract of guarantee between such third parties as bank and the carrier. After an analysis of different provisions of the industry and counties concerning the effect of the maritime L/G, the writer brought forward that the legal effects of the maritime L/G between different parties are different, and made detailed analysis with respect to the legal effect of three different common Ls/G, and further brought forward how to better ascertain the effect of maritime L/G in the practice. The writer also used cases to bring forward his opinions on how to better use the maritime L/G in the shipping practice, and made some suggestions and points to note to the carrier, the consignee and the shipper, and also gave the main clause that the maritime L/Gshall include. Finally, the writer put forward that the electronic B/L can be used to solve some problems of maritime L/G existed in the practice. The writer holds that the current trading system is generated after long-time combination of theory and practice. Safer measures can only be that the carrier should take the L/G after consideration of the situation and with the attitude of caution and carefulness, and avoid any dispute and prevent from any loss as much as possible to safe his legal interest, and advance the fluent development of the international trading and shipping industry.