Article II of the Hague Rules 1924 imposes, for contracting states, terms upon “every contract of carriage of goods by sea” in relation to the “loading, handling, stowage, carriage, custody, care, and discharge of such goods”. Article I(b) provides that the term “contract of carriage” applies only to “contracts of carriage covered by a bill of lading … in so far as such document relates to the carriage of goods by sea”, and Art.I(e) defines “carriage of goods” as “the period from the time when the goods are loaded on to the time when they are discharged from the ship”. What is not referred to in Arts I and II of the Hague Rules is delivery, which involves a transfer of possession of the goods to the person entitled to receive them and marks the completion of the contract of carriage. In Gosse Millard Ltd v Canadian Government Merchant Marine Ltd,1 Wright J observed that “the word ‘discharge’ is used … in place of the word ‘deliver’, because the period of responsibility to which the … Rules apply (Art.I(e)) ends when they are discharged from the ship”.

This “period of responsibility” reflected a deliberate choice by the drafters. At the 1922 Conference of the Comité Maritime International in London, the initial proposal had been that Art.I(e) should cover the period from loading of the goods to delivery, with delivery defined as “delivery from the ship”.2 There was then a debate about the use of the word “delivery”, and it was instead agreed the word used would be “discharged”. In the context of that wording, one concern raised was that in some jurisdictions the carriage of goods lasts until delivery to the consignee. The Chairman noted that this was a matter for “the laws and rules in force in the various countries” and that “it had not been intended in this international convention to consider anything other than the time the goods were on board the ship”.3

It might thus have been assumed, as held by appellate courts in Australia,4 Hong Kong,5 Malaysia,6 and the United Kingdom,7 that the application of the Hague Rules is limited to the period of responsibility from loading until discharge. But in FIMBank Plc v KCH