A Legal and Economic Analysis of the Volume Contract Concept under the Rotterdam Rules: Selected Issues in Perspective

摘要

The changing dynamics of trade have made the application of the volume contract concept inevitable and inescapable. The development of the Rotterdam Rules has been a major undertaking in law reform in the international regime of carriage of goods. The perceived optimal or efficient balancing of risks between carrier and shipper interests was often the result of compromise reached after protracted debate at the negotiations. Such compromises have raised questions on whether a proper balance of risk between shipper and carrier interests has been struck, or whether the balance has unreasonably shifted in favour of one side, or whether the exercise is simply a fine tuning of the existing law. Its adoption by the maritime community is evidence that the opportunity to articulate a carriage regime focusing essentially on a balanced allocation of obligation and liability between carriers and shippers has not been missed.