Enhancing of carriers' liabilities in the rotterdam rules - Too expensive costs for navigational safety?

The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea (the 'Rotterdam Rules') was adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 11 December 2008. The Rotterdam Rules contain two oft-criticised changes from the existing regime governing international carriage of goods widely adopted among maritime nations, namely the International Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to Bills of Lading, Brussels, 25 August 1924 (the 'Hague Rules') and the subsequent Protocol in 1968 (the 'Visby Protocol' or the 'Hague-Visby Rules'). These changes are (1) an extension of the carrier's obligations to maintain seaworthy vessel through the voyage (Article 14) and a deletion of an exclusion of carrier's liabilities due to negligent navigation (Article 17). This paper addresses implications of these changes and assess whether ship-owners or ship-operators can comply with these without having to incur excessive additional expenses. © 2013 Taylor & Francis Group.