An oil slick or toxic cargoes washed up on coastlines can lead to endless arguments about who is responsible. For years, a better, clearer set of global regulations on marine freight has been needed. The Rotterdam Rules, a draft United Nations convention presented this week, looks like providing the answer.

In December 2003, the Andinet cargo ship shed three containers off the coast of the Dutch island of Texel. In them were 360 drums of toxic chemicals, some of which were never recovered. If the drums rust away and the chemicals are washed up on the shore, the whole island may have to be evacuated.

Who would be liable? The loading company for not adequately securing the cargo or the captain for setting sail regardless?

The Rotterdam Rules provide a framework of regulations which provides answers to such questions. The rules make clear who is responsible for goods transported by sea.

There were not only gaps in the previous international regulations, but the rules were outdated and often gave rise to different interpretations. Modern container traffic and the digital information revolution mean the system was due an overhaul.

Navigational errors
The new regulations mostly concern agreements between the shipper and the company doing the shipping. Under the Rotterdam Rules, the shipper is responsible for seeing that the containers are packed so as to withstand the journey, while the shipping company has to make sure the cargo’s journey is safe.

Shippers and the owners of vessels are given more responsibility than was the case. Ship owners, for example, are now liable for damage because of navigational errors.

Minko van Heezen, spokesman for the Port of Rotterdam, stresses that, despite this, ship owners have agreed to the Rotterdam Rules. Although they realise it could cost them money, they believe a clear set of regulations is worth it.

Less bureaucracy
Responsibility is no longer equally divided between all the parties: the shipper, loader, ship owner, receiver and companies transferring cargoes during the journey. Every part of the process is covered, from the lorry transporting the container to the port at the start of the voyage to the lorry taking it to the customer at the end. This saves a huge number of separate agreements, rules and paper work.

Under the old regulations, transfer companies had to store goods on their own sites near the ship. This could lead to overcrowded transfer terminals. “A chain store might have next season’s garden furniture transported in December and keep it as long as possible at the transfer depot,” explains Mr Van Heezen.

The Rotterdam Rules mean such containers can now be stored more cheaply close to the store concerned without complicated legal arguments over insurance and responsibility in cases of theft or damage.

Goodbye consignment notes
The new regulations will make the transportation of goods more efficient and, in the end, cheaper. They also mean the process can be managed digitally.

Consignment notes, often in effect an enormous pile of papers, were vitally important in shipping. Whoever had control of the documents was the formal owner of the cargo. This flawed and bureaucratic system will gradually disappear in favour of e-mails containing the same information and having the same legal force.

One major hurdle, however, still has to be overcome. Although shipping business organisations have welcomed the Rotterdam Rules convention, at least 20 UN member states still have to ratify it.