Круглый стол в рамках конференции

В отношении конференции «Практика морского бизнеса 2011. Груз»,
которая пройдет в этом году в Одессе 2-3 июня 2011 г.

Round table for lawyers

The survival of the freedom of contract in shipping transport?

will be held in the frame of the conference Practice of Maritime Business: Sharing Experience

Questions

1. Are really free the parties to a contract of carriage?  Liner or tramp, would it make any difference?
2. Is the Consignee, in his position of endorsee of the transport document, as much free as is the shipper to negotiate a carriage with the carrier?
3. Is the Shipper the weak party in the contract of carriage?  Do shippers/consignees need protective legislation vis-à-vis the Carrier?
4. Are the contract forms of B/L and C/P usually balanced?
5. Should there be a limit to the Carrier’s freedom?  Are the Hague-Visby and Hamburg liability regimes such a limit?
6. Should abusive clauses be voided by international laws?
7. Should the Consignee be harmed by clauses to which he is alien by means of incorporation of C/P clauses into the B/L?
8. How the Rotterdam Rules deal with freedom of contract?  Is the regime on “volume contracts” acceptable as opting-out?  Should there be mandatory rules and opting-out clauses in a maritime Convention?
9. Does the “Himalaya Clause” go beyond the frame of contract freedom between Shipper and Carrier?
10. Freedom of contract and balance of rights, which one should prevail in shipping transport?