Carriage of goods by sea—the Hague-Visby Rules

Produced in partnership with James Watthey of 4 Pump Court , Quentin Tannock of 4 Pump Court and Elliott Cook of 4 Pump Court

Practice notes

Carriage of goods by sea—the Hague-Visby Rules

Produced in partnership with James Watthey of 4 Pump Court , Quentin Tannock of 4 Pump Court and Elliott Cook of 4 Pump Court

Practice notes

This Practice Note explains the Hague-Visby Rules (the Rules) which are an international convention enacted into English law by the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971 (CGSA 1971) whose purpose is to regulate some of the most important rights and obligations under bills of lading for carriage of goods by sea. The Practice Note covers the scope of the Rules, the carrier’s responsibilities under them, the carrier’s limitations of liability and immunities available under the Rules and the relevant time bars.

The Rules are a modified version of the Hague Rules, enacted by the CGSA 1924. The changes were brought about by the Visby protocol of 1971. The Hague Rules still apply in some circumstances and will be referred to briefly in this Practice Note for the purposes of comparison.

Other major rules which may be applicable to carriage of goods by sea but which fall outside the scope of this Practice Note include the Hamburg

James Watthey

Barrister, 4 Pump Court

James is an experienced commercial barrister handling heavyweight international arbitration and litigation. James focuses on charterparty disputes, cargo claims, sale and purchase, shipbuilding disputes, international trade and marine insurance. In addition to LMAA, LCIA, SIAC, ICC and other institutional and ad hoc arbitrations all around the world, he also frequently handles disputes in the Commercial Court and the Admiralty Court, as well as other divisions of the High Court. He has particular experience of international actions involving jurisdictional disputes. James also has experience in mediation and as an Arbitrator and expert in English law in foreign proceedings. His arbitration practice includes both substantive proceedings and challenges under the Arbitration Act 1996, on grounds such as want of jurisdiction, apparent bias, serious irregularity and errors of law. More recently, he has handled a lot more commodities and energy related shipping disputes. He also works on Admiralty matters and is widely regarded as pre-eminent in the superyacht market. Increasingly, he is being sought after as an arbitrator.

Quentin Tannock

4 Pump Court

Quentin Tannock has a commercial practice with a strong focus on advocacy. Quentin acts and advises on a broad spectrum of disputes across a range of industry sectors, for example, including insurance, financial services and professional negligence. While his practice has a focus on high value disputes, Quentin's clients range in size from the Fortune 100 through to SMEs. Quentin's background is in law and business, including commercial arbitration, venture capital investments and the provision of IP related strategy and policy advice to multinational corporations and international organisations. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Lauterpacht Centre in the Faculty of Law at the University of Cambridge and gave a series of lectures on IP and business to science master’s students at the University of Cambridge.

Elliott Cook

Barrister, 4 Pump Court

Elliott’s practice includes complex commercial disputes, financial services, civil fraud, insurance and re-insurance, professional negligence, construction, and shipping.

Before coming to the Bar, Elliott was a judicial assistant at the Supreme Court of Western Australia. He later worked at a leading international commercial law firm in Perth, Australia as a solicitor in the litigation team with a particular focus on mining and energy, insolvency, and corporate law. In the year prior to joining Chambers, Elliott was employed as a qualified foreign solicitor at a large US law firm in London working on a range of disputes across a wide variety of industry sectors.

In addition to being called to the Bar in England & Wales, Elliott is admitted as a barrister and solicitor in Australia.

Jurisdiction(s):

United Kingdom

Key definition:

Carriage of goods definition

What does Carriage of goods mean?

The transportation of goods by sea, air, land (rail and road), or a combination of these.

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