The Extent to Which the Loading and Unloading Contractor Benefits from Determining the Responsibility of the Sea Carrier under the Bill of Lading

Eman Fathi Hassan Al-Gamiel

doi:10.32996/ijlps.2022.4.1.3

Abstract

The operations of loading and unloading at the maritime cargo are the responsibilities and duties of the carrier or the shipper, or the consignee. These duties are difficult to be carried out in the frame of increasing load of ships at the modern era, and to accomplish the desire of parties of the maritime transport contract regarding the speed of execution, whereas accomplishment of these operations inquires any private equipment and high-efficiency labors at this side. However, the carrier cannot ensure these matters at every port where his shops arrive. On the other hand, it is not within the capacity of the shipper or the consignee, which necessitated recourse to a specialized contractor who performs it on his behalf in return for a wage and through his labors and equipment owned by him or leased from the port administration, which is known as the loading and unloading contractor. The carrier, shipper or consignee can entrust to him to carry out any of these operations except for sea transport. The loading and unloading contract concluded by the latter may include receiving the goods from the shipper, shipping them, stacking them, unpacking, unloading, or delivering them to the consignee. Although there is a special entity for both the loading and unloading contract and the maritime transport contract - the first interferes with the implementation of the second, which raises several inquiries regarding the degree to which loading and unloading contractors taking benefit from identification the responsibility of the sea carrier under the bill of lading, since there is an overlap in the two contracts and loading and unloading contract is a way to carry out the maritime transport contract.

Highlights

Transportation is one of the most important forms of commercial exploitation of the maritime environment
Through application the aforementioned provisions regarding determining the responsibility of the loading and unloading contractor, we find that the reliability is what is included in the loading and unloading contract and not the bill of lading since the bill of lading regulates the relationship between the carrier and the shipper and the contractor has nothing to do with it
It will be applied that if the bill of lading includes an agreement to limit the liability of the carrier to more than the maximum limit of liability established by law, this agreement is valid vis-à-vis the carrier, it has no effect on the responsibility of the loading and unloading contractor who does not argue with it, and his responsibility remains within the scope of the limit the maximum legal prescribed limit without exceeding it in accordance with the provisions of Article 151 of the aforementioned(40), and determining the responsibility of the loading and unloading contractor with the same specification determined for the responsibility of the marine carrier, becomes a minimum limit of responsibility for what can be agreed upon with the contractor

Summary

Introduction

Transportation is one of the most important forms of commercial exploitation of the maritime environment. In reality, the contractor carries out his work independently of the carrier and the master, and the contractor shall not deserve his wage from the carrier or the shipper or consignee, according to the mentioned condition at the bill of lidding or to whom bear the responsibility of the operations of the marine handling, who contracted with the contractor for the purpose to carry out this condition, whereas it is stipulated at the bill of lading to charge the expenses of loading and unloading with the expenses of the goods He is absolutely free to perform his work, he is subject to some instructions and directions from the master to verify the implementation of the work as required. From the foregoing, it is clear that the condition of non-liability before or after the cranes does not apply to the marine contractor, as it is limited to the carrier because the contractor is only responsible for his personal mistakes or the mistakes of his subordinates in relation to the material works of loading and unloading or the works related to these operations and which he is entrusted with their implementation

The Second

The Third

The First

Conclusions and Recommendations

Second