Marine transport. Bill of Lading (B/L). Sea freight. Insurance.

Course summary (Marine Transport):

Shipping lines. Documentation. Costs. Ports of the World. The Hague, Visby and Hamburg Rules. Port of Rotterdam, Tokyo and Singapore.

The main objective is to understand the functioning of marine transport, documents required for sea freight and how to complete them. This will be achieved by:
- Learning about the parties involved in the Marine shipment process.
- Learning about the various types of transport involved in Marine shipment.
- Analysing the various forms of documentation required for Marine shipment (Bill of Lading B/L).
- Examining the various costs associated with Marine transport.
- Examining the various insurance concepts associated with Marine transport.

Of all means of transport, marine transport carries the greatest volume of goods in international trade. Marine transport is practically the most cost-effective means of transporting large volumes of goods from one country to another. The main disadvantage of shipment by sea is that it is slow.

Freight Forwarder. This is a party who acts as an intermediary between the exporter/importer and international shipping lines. The freight forwarder can also act as a cargo consolidator and/or NVOCC (Non-Vessel Operator Common Carrier), who consolidates cargo not only for marine transport but for other modes of transport as well.

A Bill of Lading is a document issued by a carrier to confirm receipt of goods to be transported to an agreed destination. This document also serves as a contract of carriage and represents title to the goods. The marine transport document used by shipping lines is the marine/ocean bill of lading. The transport document used by charterers is the charter party bill of lading.

Example of the course Marine Transport:

Shipping lines usually issue two or three original bills of lading, each of which can be used to claim ownership of the goods. Therefore, the one who has the bill of lading has the title to the goods. A bill of lading is a highly valuable document, especially in documentary Methods of payment.

There are many international conventions on marine transport:
- The Hague Rules ("the international Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules relating to Bills of Lading"). These Rules govern liability for loss of or damage to goods carried by sea under a bill of lading.
- The Hague Visby Rules ("Brussels Protocol"). These Rules incorporate certain revisions to the Hague Rules, principally affecting limitation of carrier liability.
- The Hamburg Rules were adopted in 1978. They radically alterthe liability which shipowners have to bear for loss of or damage to goods.
- The London Convention "Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims" was signed in 1976. This convention applies a virtually unbreakable right to limit liability and sets out the levels of limitation.
- H.N.S., "Convention on the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea"
- ...

The Port of Rotterdam is the gateway to a European market (500 million consumers). With an annual throughput of more than 400 million tones of goods, Rotterdam is by far the biggest seaport in Europe. The port of Rotterdam is deep enough to accommodate the largest vessels in the world, such as mammoth tankers, ore carriers and container vessels. The port and industrial area stretches over a length of 40 kilometers and covers 10,000 hectares. The European market is accessible from Rotterdam via five competing modalities: road, rail, inland shipping, coastal shipping and pipeline. Goods which arrive in Rotterdam in a morning can be in, for example, Germany, Belgium, France or Great Britain the same afternoon.

Since its establishment by Dr Yung-Fa Chang on 1 September 1968, Evergreen Marine Corp (EMC) has secured its place in shipping history. Since those early days, it has not only survived, but positively thrived on hard-work and perseverance, until today it boasts a fleet of over 100 container vessels. Both in terms of the magnitude of its fleet and its cargo loading capacity, EMC ranks among the world's leading international shipping companies.

China Ocean Shipping (Group). COSCO is a multinational enterprise focusing on the shipping and logistics businesses while providing global customers with quality ship building and repairing, marine engineering, terminal operation, trade, financial and Information technology (IT) services in addition to the shipping and logistics services.

The A.P. Moller - Maersk Group is a worldwide conglomerate. They operate in some 130 countries and have a workforce of some 120,000 employees. In addition to owning one of the world’s largest shipping companies, they’re involved in a wide range of activities in the energy, logistics, retail and manufacturing industries.

With over 80 per cent of world merchandise trade by volume being carried by sea, maritime transport remains the backbone supporting International trade and globalization. In 2007, the volume of international seaborne trade reached 8.02 billion tons – a 4.8 per cent increase year-on-year. Indeed, during the past three decades, the annual average growth rate of world seaborne trade is estimated at 3.1 per cent.

Benefiting from improved terms of trade, exporters of fuel and minerals increased their overall import volumes. Imports expanded at double-digit rates in Latin America (20 per cent), Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) (18 per cent), as well as Africa and the Middle East (12.5 per cent).

(Source UNCTAD)

Marine, transport, Bill, Lading, B/L, Freight, Insurance, Documentation, Marine Transport, Costs, Ports, world, Hague, Visby, Hamburg, Rules, Port, Rotterdam, Tokyo, Singapore