On Maritime Performing Party Liability System And Its Reference To The Practice In China

After a decade of work, the UN General Assembly passed an International Convention on the Carriage of Goods, “Rotterdam Rules”, following “Hague Rules”, “Visby Rules” and “Hamburg Rules”. It was formally opened for signature on September, 2009. Hereafter, the maritime industry ushers in a new historical stage. This Convention has introduced a lot of theoretical and practical significance. The establishment of a maritime performing party liability has become a major undertaking and highlights of the Convention. China, a big country developing rapidly in shipping, can get a lot of reference and inspiration.This total paper is divided into four chapters. The first chapter of “maritime performing party” is introduced in detail. “Performing party” concept is based on the evolution of the three international conventions mentioned upon. In order to facilitate cargo damage claims, to expand the scope of application of the Convention, to make more related maritime transports included in the relationship of carriage of goods by sea, the Convention creates a new subject, “performing party”. “Maritime performing party” is the main focus in the draft of this Convention. Maritime performing party means a performing party to the extent that it performs or undertakes to perform any of the carrier’s obligations during the period between the arrival of the goods at the port of loading of a ship and their departure from the port of discharge of a ship. Section II of this chapter is to define the concept of a maritime performing party. The last article compares “maritime performing party” with “actual carrier”, “performing carrier” and “maritime carrier”.The second chapter discusses the liability of maritime performing party. Maritime performing party’s liability system is a further breakthrough in the Doctrine of privacy. Convention links the maritime performing party with cargo owners without contractual relationships in a legal form. This reflects that the maritime performing party’s liability steming from the mandatory provisions of the law is a legal responsibility. This is an important measure expanded to a third party in transportation contracts. Article 19 of the Convention provides the maritime performing party’s liability provisions in detail. Article 20 of the Convention provides for liability relationships between the carrier and the maritime performing party. If carrier and one or more maritime performing parties are both liable for damages, they are jointly and severally liable within the limits prescribed by the Convention.Chapter three of the paper is the overall responsibility Commentary on the maritime performing party system. First, it solves the long-standing confusion about the definition of the “Hamburg Rules” in the actual carrier in maritime practice and theorists. Second, “Rotterdam Rules” includes port operators into the category of the maritime performing party and explicits its legal status.The fourth chapter discusses China’s maritime legislation and practice in reference to the maritime performing party liability. Our revised “Maritime Law” needs for more clearly definition in the meaning of the term in the future. It can refer to the “maritime performing party”, replacing the word “trust” and replaced by “directly or indirectly in the carrier’s request, under the supervision or control”. Port operators should be identified as independent contractors parties, and enjoy the same limitation of liability as the carrier.