ABSTRACT

Transportation is an integral factor in
international trade and the contract of carriage of goods by sea, forms part of
the complex web of transactions witnessed at international trade.  The purpose of this project is to illuminate
the nature and the inherent features present in the contract of Carriage of
Goods by Sea and to also highlight the rights as well as the duties owed by the
parties.  It also seeks to point the
obligations the law imposes on the parties as well as the liabilities they
would incur on the event of breach in this form of contract.

CHAPTER ONE

THE NATURE
OF THE CONTRACT OF CARRIAGE OF GOODS BY SEA

1.1   INTRODUCTION

Man
has always been by his nature an interactive and interdependent being, and
trade has been one of those means by which he interacts and shows his
interdependency.  He engages in the
exchange of goods and services for a valuable consideration.

The
concept of international trade[1]
is not new to man, only that here, this form of exchange seems to resonate on a
much broader platform involving a complex web of structures and processes which
makes this sort of transaction possible and one of this structure is the
carriage of goods by sea, thus it is important to point out that, this form of
transportation of goods is not only vital to international trade, but it also
forms an integral part of it, that the absence it would make international
trade very difficult to undertake.

Though
our focus is the rights and obligations of parties under the carriage of goods
by sea, full appreciation of this rights and duties will not be attained, if
some attention is not given to highlight the nature of this form of
transaction.

1.2   DEFINITION

The
contract of carriage of goods by sea can easily be seen as a contract involving
two parties who for an agreed sum agree to be bound by the terms reached by
them. But this definition may be very misleading, for though the contract of
carriage involve this important element it is not the same as the usual
contracts reached and agreed by parties. 

Perhaps
looking at some definitions posed by some authorities, more light would be shed
on the nature of this kind of contract. Clive
M. Schmitthoff[2]tried to give a vivid description as to the nature of this contract, here
he said that a contract of carriage entails a situation where an exporter
concludes with a ship owner to carry goods in his ship from one port to
another, usually overseas, such contract is known as the contract of carriage
by sea[3].  R.M. Goode[4]
on the other hand sees a contract of carriage involving two parties the shipper[5]
and the carrier.[6]  The shipper is the person to whom the carrier
undertakes the duty of transporting the goods.

Black’s Law Dictionary[7] defines it as an
agreement for carriage of goods by water, which may employ a bill of lading, a
charter party or both to ship goods.

Finally,
Article 1 Carriage of Goods By Sea Act[8]
defines contract of carriage as those that:

“Apply only to contracts covered by a bill of lading
or any similar document of title, in so far as such document relates to the
carriage of goods by sea, including any bill of lading or any similar document
as aforesaid issued under a pursuant to a charter party from the moment at
which such bill of lading or similar document of title regulates the relations
between a carrier and a holder of the same”.