The NIT League's support for the convention somewhat conflicts with the position of its European cohort, the European Shippers' Council, which in late April warned the rules could have unintended negative consequences on small- and medium-sized shippers.
'The development of compatible worldwide standards applicable to the loss and damage of maritime cargoes is long overdue,' NIT League Chairman Mark Maleski said in a statement. 'The league’s board of directors has unambiguously endorsed the new rules and established a firm mandate to work with other industry sectors to advance the adoption of the rules in the United States and all of our trade partners as soon as possible.'
In its April note of caution, the ESC said, 'the new international convention covering liability of carriers and shippers in a contract of carriage, allows the liner shipping companies to offer an opt-out from almost all of the rules for what are referred to as 'volume contracts;' but volume contracts can be just three or four containerized shipments per year.'
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ESC added that 'many shippers may be lured into such an opt-out by the offer of lower rates or the promise of better service. Before shippers enter into such tempting offers they must first understand and weigh up the potential risks and consequences.'
The shippers' council offered an alternative to the Rotterdam Rules in which regional conventions were developed, ones that would cover co-modal movement of containerized freight, door-to-door.
'The reality is that in the world of maritime shipping today there is no consistency or uniformity in the application of awards for loss and/or damaged cargoes,' said Peter Gatti, NIT League executive vice president. 'The Rotterdam Rules will reflect current shipping practices, contain significant improvements over existing cargo liability conventions, promote harmonization among trading partners, reduce legal obstacles and will allow shippers, carriers and third parties to customize their contracts to meet their commercial needs.”
