A Study Of The Compulsory Contracting Obligation Of International Liner Shipping Carriers

With the rapid development of economy and commerce, the cases of “Maersk v. Xiamen Yinghai Co. have to experience a stricter test, and satisfy a higher request of convenience. The case of “Maersk v. Xiamen Yinghai Co.”, published by Supreme People’s Court, has rightly represented the big gap between the theory and reality. During the long period of trial, the inconsistent sentences inspired the scholars to have a deep thinking of the common carrier regulations. However, most judicial workers and maritime scholars focused on the superficial phenomena, such as the shipping date. And their arguments were within their own logic circles, which would lead to a conclusion with randomness and subjectivity. In conclusion, I tried to tell the difference between the common carrier under Common Law and under Roman Law, based on its history, and have a deep analysis of common carriers regulations combined with the national policies and the benefits among every party concerning.This paper would underline the following points,(a)the history and meaning of maritime common carriers;(b)the compulsory contracting obligations of maritime common carriers;(c)the necessity of compulsory contracting obligation under maritime common carrier regulation system and the corresponding suggestions of Chinese law concerning maritime common carrier. The first part has discussed the development and trend of common carriers, including the concrete meaning of ‘common’ and the realization of ‘common’ which was originated from the classic points and cases of Common Law. Besides, we can conclude that, the common law has taken a looser control of the international liner shipping. The second part has put forward several standards, such as the public nature, monopoly and the strong position, to decide who shall burden the obligations of mandatory contracting. Moreover, in order to distinguish similar concepts, this part has made a clear distinction of them. The third part has stated the laws and regulations of some main shipping countries. According to the global trend, this part has put forward concrete advice and stated that because of the specialty and commercial customs of international shipping market, the compulsory contracting obligation of common carriers is not fitting this market any more.