Study On "CMA Djakarta" Limitation Of Liability For Maritime Claims

Limitation System of Liability for Maritime Claims, which refers to that whenevera ship get into a serious disaster whether in a voyage or anchorage, the shipowner,salvor or the others who are responsible for the accident can limit their own liabilitywithin certain amount when it comes to some certain victims’ claiming compensationof the damage in accordance to the law. The original intention of such a system is toalleviate the shipowner’s burden of shipping risks and to encourage the stabilizationof the shipping enterprise. With the growing diversification and specification ofshipping enterprise, there emerges various new kinds of participants. The Conventionon Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims increases coverage of entitlement toliability limitation of charterers, whom are sorted into shipowners, while thecharterers’ range and their limitable liability coverage is not defined in theConvention yet. Since Chinese system of Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claimsis based on the1976Convention, the definition of charters’ and the limitable liabilitycompensation’s coverage is of great significance for our country."CMA Djakarta" is atypical case of the time charter’s Limitation of Liability. This paper illustrates therange of the charterers who apply to the Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claimsand its coverage of claims subject to limitation through the case, and put forward afull opinion towards Chinese system of Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims.As china is growing as a powerful maritime country, the perfection of the law ofLimitation of Liability for Maritime Claims is growing urgently,too. This work startsby brief-introduction of the CMA Djakarta case, and after analyzing claims of bothparties follows the two problems to be solved: whether time charterers belong to thekind of charterers that entitled to limit liability; the coverage of shipowners liabilitylimitation for charterers which will be concluded in different perspectives. Finally,based on these preceding studies, this paper will propose my very own opinion byanalyzing relevant articles of liability limitation in Chinese Maritime Law. Throughcase analyzation, in this article I will draw conclusion to the following issues: first,time charterers are covered by the charterers that entitled to the liability limitationsystem recognized in the1976Convention, which are also stated in Chineselegislation; second, charterers can be entitled to liability limitation when it concernsshipowners’claims of goods damage reimburse, while the ship damage, salvage money and general average contribution cannot; third,based on the present situationof legislation and judicature in china, the conditions to accede to the convention arestill not immature.