Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly

Edited by Professor Francis D Rose

Document

The impact of containerisation on carrier liability

Mustafa Yilmaz*

Containerisation, a major technological advancement in modern shipping, has redefined industry boundaries and operations. It introduces key concepts such as container supply, stuffing, devanning, extended storage, and pre- and post-sea carriage processes. Cargo loss or damage today often results from defective containers, improper stuffing, mismanagement or stowage rather than ship-related issues. These developments expose systemic limitations in the liability framework under the Hague and Hague-Visby Rules. This paper examines how English courts and select common and civil law jurisdictions address these challenges, considers container-specific clauses in standardised bills of lading, and proposes refinements to better align the framework with containerisation.

I. INTRODUCTION

1. Scope

This paper explores the current framework of carrier liability in container shipping, focusing on the judicial responses to the challenges introduced by containerisation. It aims to provide a coherent understanding of this subject under the Hague and Hague-Visby Rules under English law. Comparative perspectives are employed where they enhance the analysis, drawing on cases from other common law jurisdictions, including Singapore, Australia, Canada and the US, and, where contextually relevant, certain civil law jurisdictions applying the Hague or Hague-Visby Rules. Moreover, the analysis considers relevant provisions in standard bills of lading used by the leading shipping lines.

This discussion is confined to the core implications of containerisation for carrier liability, particularly how containerisation has reshaped the responsibilities of carriers before, during and after the sea voyage and the basis of their liability, with a focus on the fundamental duties of seaworthiness and care for the cargo. While broader issues, such as evidentiary challenges arising from containerisation (including the impact of disclaimers such as “said to contain” and the evolving burden of proof for establishing a prima facie case), as well as limitations of liability, are acknowledged, a detailed analysis of these

* Research Associate, Centre for Maritime Law (CML), Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore. I am grateful to Professor Stephen Girvin, Director of CML, for his valuable comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this paper. I am also deeply thankful to Professor Jason Chuah for his supervision of my PhD thesis at The City Law School, City St George’s, University of London, from which the ideas in this paper are drawn. The usual disclaimer applies.

The impact of containerisation on carrier liability

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