Date of Award
2013
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Science in Maritime Affairs
Specialization
Maritime Law & Policy
Campus
Malmö, Sweden
Country
China
First Advisor
Kitada, Momoko.
Abstract
This dissertation focuses on major legal issues of carriage of dangerous goods by sea. Due to the particular features and high risk of dangerous goods during the process of transportation, dangerous goods transportation by sea has always caught the public eye. Nowadays, due to technological development and increasing volume of dangerous goods trade, concerns relating to its legal issues have been seen as a critical matter in the ship-ping industry. This study discusses the present situation and the trend of maritime dangerous goods legislation first, and then, looks into the various definitions of dangerous goods in differ-ent conventions and regulations. The argument largely focuses on the critical issue that there are no unified definitions across various laws. Therefore, this research will exam-ine a definition of dangerous goods in order to analyze the major legal issues of carriage of dangerous goods by sea. In regards to legal issues of shipper and carrier, the thesis focuses on their qualification, rights, obligations and liabilities respectively. By comparing the differences among four regulations, namely, Hague Rules, Hamburg Rules, Rotterdam Rules and China Mari-time Code (and any applicable Chinese national laws), clarification of the foregoing top-ic is presented. The study concludes the need of amendment of China Maritime Code in terms of carriage of dangerous goods by sea.