The Australian government must give serious consideration to signing up to a new international convention on the carriage of goods by sea or face being stuck with an antiquated regime of maritime law that is likely to be inconsistent with its major trading partners, says a leading maritime lawyer.

The United Nations (UN) Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea also known as the ‘Rotterdam Rules’ has now been signed by 21 nations including the United States, France, Greece, Denmark, Switzerland and the Netherlands. The current signatories are said to make up over 25 per cent of world trade by volume.

According to Mr Stuart Hetherington, partner at Colin Biggers & Paisley lawyers, it is in Australia’s interests as a modern trading nation, to back the new convention which seeks to consolidate and modernise a patchwork of piecemeal rules first conceived in the nineteenth century.

“Eighty per cent of world trade is now conducted by sea. Supporting a uniform framework that clarifies the rights and responsibilities of marine cargo carriers and shippers promotes international trade and is in turn good for Australia,” Mr Hetherington said.Â

“Australia’s regime has been grafted on to the original archaic rules which hark back to a time when cargo was shipped in bags or boxes rather than containers, and communication technology was still in its infancy. It is generally considered out of date and cumbersome. By contrast, the new convention brings the maritime sector into the 21st century. It reflects current shipping practices and recognises the impact of e-commerce and electronic communications on shipping transactions.”

Mr Hetherington also noted that the new convention made sensible changes to legal rights and liabilities that reflected the business community’s current expectations.

For instance, the period during which carriers are responsible for the safety of another’s cargo has been extended from the “tackle to tackle” period to include the period from when cargo is received by the carrier to when it is delivered to the consignee at its destination, including at any agreed inland locations.

“This extension of responsibility acknowledges that today, carriers are often part of a larger logistics supply chain and therefore, it is appropriate for their liability to match their delivery obligations”.

“Similarly, the new convention aims to apply modern duty of care concepts more consistently. For example, carriers are made responsible for ensuring the ship is seaworthy and properly crewed throughout the voyage and not just at the port of departure.

“The so-called ‘nautical fault defence’ has also been scrapped so that ship’s masters and crew who have been negligent in navigating or managing the ship can no longer escape liability”.

Mr Hetherington noted that overall, Australia had more to gain from joining up with the new regime than staying put with the old one.

“Goods traders and shipping companies will no doubt debate who gets the short straw under the new rules but at a national level, the benefits to Australia of a uniform law are clear.

“With the US having signed, and hopefully moving to ratification soon, it is likely that other major nations will feel greater pressure to commit. Australian traders and shipping companies will have to grapple with the reality of the new regime as it applies to their contractual arrangements once the Rules come into force. It is now timely for the Australian government to back the Rotterdam Rules”.

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The Rotterdam rules – What are the main changes?

   * Extends the period when carriers are responsible for goods. The period is from when cargo is received by the carrier to when it is delivered.

   * Contemplates e-commerce and aims to treat paper and electronic documents consistently

   * Extends the carrier’s obligation to provide a properly crewed, equipped and seaworthy ship and to keep holds fit for cargo throughout the sea voyage

   * Increases the amount by which carriers can limit their liability to 875 units of account per package or shipping unit or 3 units of account per kilogram of gross weight

   * Removes the ‘nautical fault defence’ to enable carriers to be liable for the negligent navigation or management of the ship

   * Extends the time to commence legal action to two years from the day the goods were delivered or should have been delivered

   * Allows parties to ‘volume’ contracts (contracts that provide for the carriage of a specified quantity of goods in a series of shipments during an agreed period) to ‘opt out’ of much of the convention’s liability regime

“Don’t ignore our sea change markets while the flurry to buy property surrounds city markets,” says Tim Lawless who heads up the national research unit at rpdata.com.

Today in the rpdata.com weekly Property Pulse, which looks at current property market trends, Mr Lawless said that even though over the past 12 months our lifestyle-driven coastal markets have fared worse than other markets, he brings to our attention that now could be the ideal time to take a good look at these markets as we begin to see conditions slowly improve.

“Now may be the best time to position in the market while prices remain low,” Mr Lawless said.

This heralds good news for prospective buyers who may have aspired to owning a coastal lifestyle property, however due to a lack of funds, they avoided these markets and threw away any hope of ‘getting in’.

Mr Lawless said that because housing values across some of Australia’s most popular coastal regions have recently shown significant falls, and competition in the market remains relatively subdued, he’s suggesting buyers to take a good look around our coastal regions.

“Based on our findings, the indications are clear that this market is now turning. I believe that many of these lifestyle markets have seen the worst of times,” Mr Lawless said.