A Study On The Limitation Of Liability Of Port Operators

As the hub of shipping, the port plays an irreplaceable role in promoting the development of the shipping industry, achieving goals of national economy development strategy and safeguarding national security. The issue on the limits of liability of port operators has been concerned by the maritime academicians and judiciary. As the system, in China's mainland, is "uncertain, the academic world haven't agreed on two main issues, such as the legal status of the port operator and whether the port operator can enjoy the limits of liability, which left room to research.In the opinion of the author, under the current China legal system, the port operator can not enjoy limits of liability, which need to revise the "Maritime Code P.R.C". In view of the port operator's close relationship with the carrier, this paper advocated establishing the limits of liability of port operators, by the basis of existing limits of liability of carrier. In addition, in mentioning the rationality of the issue, previous works usually have been lack of convincing data to support, but this paper will use the data of port development to demonstrate the limits of liability of port operators is reasonable.This paper is divided into three parts, including abstract, main body and conclusion, and the main body consists of four chapters:The first chapter analyzes the judicial status and the evolution of legislation of the liability of port operators, to draw out the issues, and point out that port operators are not entitled to limits of liability in the current legal system.In the second chapter, firstly, this paper makes a definition to clarify port operator's scope, followed by focusing on the assessment of the various points on the legal status of the port operators, and makes the point again that port operators are not entitled to limits of liability in the existing legal system.The third chapter, firstly, from a theoretical point of view, demonstrated the limits of liability of port operators is reasonable, and then demonstrated the rationality that the practitioners demand the limits of liability of port operators.In the fourth chapter, this paper argues that the maritime performing party system isn't mature, and will have a tremendous impact on the carrier system which runs in "maritime law" more maturely, not suitable to be absorbed in "Maritime" Immediately. Finally, the limits of liability of port operator shall be established as early as possible, relying on the existing system of carrier.