Review Of Rotterdam Rules’ Influence On Cargo Owners And The Protection Of Their Interest

Adopted by the General Assembly on11December2008, the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea has been open for signing in Rotterdam on23September2009. Compared with the previous Hague Rules and The Hague-Visby Rules the Rotterdam Rules aims on the unification of the international transport laws and clarifies the rights and obligations of the parties. Some extreme changes about the cargo owners have been introduced which should arise considerable concerns. What is more, based on the data from the State Statistics Bureau, China’s sea freight export volumes have reached the tops of the world. While as a big cargo country, the status of protection of the cargo owners is far from optimism. The organization of the cargo owners is poor, some associations like Shippers Association are absent or not available, especially the small cargo owners in the costal areas like the Yangtze River Delta usually lack of professional knowledge on transport laws. How to protect their legal rights in the bargaining with the bulk carriers is a serious problem. So a cargo owner’s position is taken in the viewing of the Rotterdam Rules in this thesis, the influence of the changes on cargo owners is valued to try to gain a deeper understanding of the convention, so that a upper hand in the bargaining with the carriers can be got.This thesis picks up the main clauses and contents that may concern with the interests of the cargo owner, and examine them from the cargo owners’perspective by analyzing,comparing and deducting, weigh their influence, give comments and finally pull the advices.