Hamburg Rules United Nations Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea, 1978 - An Appraisal

Abstract

The Hamburg Rules are a set of rules governing the international shipment of goods, resulting from the United Nations International Convention on the Carriage of Goods by Sea adopted in Hamburg in 1978. They were drafted largely as an answer to the concerns of developing nations that The Hague rules were unfair in some respects. These concerns stemmed mainly from the fact that they were seen to be drawn up by the mainly colonial maritime nations and had the purpose of safeguarding and propagating their interests at the expense of other nations. The United Nations responded to this concern by drafting the Hamburg Rules. The Hamburg rules are far more than a simple amending of the Hague/Visby regime and came up with a completely different approach to liability. This paper explains the definition for each rule and how they affect the liability of maritime shipping carriers and what effects the amendments have on carriers while also examining the limitations placed.