The Carrier’s Obligations over the Cargo Under the Hague-Visby Rules and the Rotterdam Rules

Abstract

This chapter lays down extensively the legal framework of the carrier’s obligations over the cargo. The chapter first establishes where the Hague and Hague-Visby Rules are situated in the nowadays fragmented law on international sea transport. To that end, substantial information is provided as to the development and evolution of the law regulating international carriage of goods by sea, in particular, the Hague/Hague-Visby Rules, the Hamburg Rules, and the Rotterdam Rules. The chapter provides justification why the Hague-Visby Rules, being the leading maritime liability regime, form a central part of the analysis and why at the same time the relevant provisions of the Rotterdam Rules are also extensively covered. In view of the scope and subject matter of this work, Article III rule 2 HVR and Articles 11 and 13 RR quite naturally play a central role in the discussions. However, a more extensive approach is undertaken so that the analysis comprises, among others, the entire Articles II and III HVR in order to understand the rationale behind these provisions and the environment in which they are found and operate.