The Study On The Rules Of The Legal Liability Of The Carrier Under The Rotterdam Rules

Since the widespread in international goods trade,ocean shipping,as the oldest transportation method,has played a significant role in international trade—especially in mass goods because of its huge carrying capacity and high efficiency.With the rapid development of technology in ocean shipping industry,the anti-risk ability of the carrier has greatly improved through advanced techniques and complete management systems,which caused unbalance between the risk and the benefit of both carriers and the goods owners under this new situation.because of its limitations and hysteresis,the traditional maritime conventions are obviously no longer meets the needs of toady.In order to compensate the shortage of the traditional conventions and reach an agreement,the“Rotterdam Rules”came into being.From the characteristic of the goods shipping on the sea,the carriers completely control the goods under the contract throughout the voyage.Therefore,no matter in Rotterdam Rules or traditional maritime conventions,the responsibility setting of carriers was undoubtly a vital issue in maritime conventions.To balance the interests of carriers and the goods owners,the most prominent feature of Rotterdam Rules is to aggravate the carrier's liability in almost all respects.Once coming into force,the Rules will have a great influence on maritime shipping.This paper attempts to analyze the changing settings in Legal obligation,Basis of liability,period of responsibility,Form of liability,and Limits of lability of the carrier as well as the creative settings in permission to delivery of goods without production of bill of lading under the framework of the Rotterdam rules.In addition,this paper will also make some suggestions on “Maritime Code of the PRC” considering the current ocean shipping situation in China.