{"id":398,"date":"2010-11-23T22:24:35","date_gmt":"2010-11-23T20:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourblog.greenwoods.org\/?p=398"},"modified":"2010-11-23T22:24:35","modified_gmt":"2010-11-23T20:24:35","slug":"goodbye-hague-hello-rotterdam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/greenwoods.org\/goodbye-hague-hello-rotterdam\/","title":{"rendered":"Goodbye Hague, Hello Rotterdam"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opinion:\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a forecast from those of us who write and review numerous transportation contracts: A new international law looms ahead that will be very beneficial to truckers if we strategize to take advantage of it.<\/p>\n

Globalization continues to change the motor carrier industry, and with the Rotterdam Rules <\/strong>sailing into our legal waters, we will soon replace the Hague Rules of 1924,<\/p>\n

As those involved in surface transport know quite well, addresses our liability for cargo lost or damaged in interstate and adjacent foreign commerce, generally preempting state laws on contracts and negligence.<\/p>\n

If this article ever becomes a TV documentary, this is the point where the music would swell dramatically, announcing the arrival of the Rotterdam Rules.<\/p>\n

The Convention of Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods wholly or Partly by Sea, as the Rotterdam Rules are formally known, was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on Dec. 11, 2008.<\/p>\n

The signing ceremony for the new rules was held in September 2009 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, hence the Rotterdam Rules\u2019 informal name.<\/p>\n

The Rotterdam Rules were created to extend and modernize existing international rules relating to the contract of maritime carriage of goods – specifically the Hague Rules, Hague-Visby Rules and Hamburg Rules, as these international conventions are known, and which are now as outdated as the fountain pens used to sign them nearly a century ago.<\/p>\n

Container movements and electronic communications weren\u2019t even glimmers in our eyes back then. Today, some estimates put the percentage of international freight moving by ship at more than 90%, with containers and electronic data replacing loose cargo and formal shipping documents.<\/p>\n

As a result, gaps have occurred in satisfying loss claims, with courts in many countries rewriting the law on a case-by-case basis, leaving a patchwork of conflicting outcomes.<\/p>\n

When they are fully signed and confirmed as international law – and it will happen soon – the Rotterdam Rules will change our approach to insurance, transport contracts and our overall exposure to the risk of cargo loss.<\/p>\n

The new rules establish more clearly who is responsible and accountable for what.<\/p>\n

Other parties in the chain – stevedores, for example – will be jointly liable with the carrier.<\/p>\n

The Rotterdam Rules will apply to contracts for the surface transportation of goods prior and\/or subsequent to ocean voyages. We can expect multimodal movements to be undertaken with a single contract and just one set of laws applying.<\/p>\n

As with all changes, the rules of the game will be in flux. Cargo owners and their insurers already are concerned about the Rotterdam Rules\u2019 effect in the all parties of the industry concerned and are preparing for it.<\/p>\n

Part of this Opinion piece appears in the Nov. 22 print edition of Transport Topics. <\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opinion: Here\u2019s a forecast from those of us who write and review numerous transportation contracts: A new international law looms ahead that will be very beneficial to truckers if we strategize to take advantage of it. Globalization continues to change the motor carrier industry, and with the Rotterdam Rules sailing into our legal waters, we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,42],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenwoods.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenwoods.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenwoods.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenwoods.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenwoods.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/greenwoods.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/greenwoods.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenwoods.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/greenwoods.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}