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Part V The Obligations of the Carrier, 24 Seaworthiness and Care for Cargo

From: Carriage of Goods by Sea (3rd Edition)

Stephen Girvin

Content type:
Book content
Product:
International Commercial Law [ICML]
Published in print:
29 March 2022
ISBN:
9780198811947

From: Oxford Legal Research Library (http://olrl.ouplaw.com). (c) Oxford University Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved.date: 28 June 2022

Subject(s):
Carrier's obligations — Shipper's obligations and immunities

This chapter explains seaworthiness and care for cargo. In every contract of affreightment, except where the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971 applies, there is an implied undertaking on the part of the shipowner to provide a seaworthy vessel. Contracts for the carriage of goods by sea do not contain a definition of seaworthiness; indeed, the usual charterparty wording provides that the shipowner’s vessel is ‘strong and staunch’ or ‘tight and fit’. The obligation to provide a seaworthy vessel is not demanded in abstract terms, being relative to the nature of the ship, the particular voyage, the time of the year, the stages of that voyage, the cargoes which the shipowner has contracted to carry, and the relevant standards for the carrying of cargoes at the applicable time. The chapter then considers the carrier’s duty to care for cargo, which arises contractually and in bailment.

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