Study On Maritime Performing Party And Its Liability Under The Rotterdam Rules

Major changes of Rotterdam Rules mainly embodied in the expansion of application scope of the convention, the added content involving shipment contract, the increasing of carrier’s liability, the concept innovation on shipping party, the further clarification of the definition and rights of the cargo party. At present, the study of Rotterdam Rules in China are mainly focuses on the issues of the carrier’s liability system, whether China signs and ratifies the convention or not, the influence of the convention on Maritime Law of China and the reform. The study on maritime performing party that actually performs the obligations of the shipment contract is relatively less.Based on the maritime performing party and the liability to pay compensation, combined with the judicial practices and the status quo of the legislation in China, the study is carried out by analyzing the practices of other countries by means of comparative analysis, empirical analysis, system analysis and other basic methodologies of social science research.This article starts with the analysis of the development of the carrier system, surrounds the putting forward of the maritime performing party system, compares the carrier’s liability system and the maritime performing party responsibility system by normative analysis, analyzes China’s basic standing point over maritime performing party system by combining with China’s actual situation, and finally puts forward some suggestions on the changes of China’s Maritime Law by combining the maritime performing party and its responsibility system. The article is composed of four parts:The first part mainly analyzes the development of ocean carrier system. Through a historical review, the comparison is made to analyze the enumerative definition of carrier system in Hague Rules, the legalization of Himalaya Clause in Hague-Visby Rules, the establishment of the actual carrier system in Hamburg Rules and the first putting forward of maritime performing party in Rotterdam Rules.The second part analyzes in detail the regulations on maritime performing party and its liabilities in Rotterdam Rules. Three major changes of Rotterdam Rules are mainly analyzed, based on the comparison the previous conventions. They are respectively the new construction of responsibility foundation, the expansion during the period of liability and the increase of liability limitation. In the final analysis, the responsibility relationship between the carrier and the maritime performing party is examined.The third part is about the basic standing point of China on maritime performing party. This part analyzes the main debates on Rotterdam Rules in China’s theoretical circle, the basic standing point of traders and maritime practical circle on Rotterdam Rules, the basic attitude of Chinese government towards Rotterdam Rules and the application of maritime performing party system in China, etc.The fourth part is about the suggestions on Maritime Law transforming maritime performing party system. First of all, the analysis is made on the effect of maritime performing party system on China. The contract relativity of China faces significant challenges and the impact of the new system on China’s Maritime Law. The next analysis is made on the positioning of the maritime performing party system in China’s Maritime Law, combining with maritime performing party system to analyze the actual carrier, port operator and intermediate actual carrier. Finally, combining with maritime performing party and its liability system, suggestions are made to change China’s Maritime Law, with emphasis on perfecting the system of actual carrier and their responsibilities, and clarifying the legal status of port operator and intermediate actual carrier.