The limited scope of seaborne cargo liability regime: new political–economic environments in the 21st Century

The scope of uniformity of seaborne cargo regimes under the UN’s conventional approach seems to be more extensive than is desirable. The new business pattern of shipping subsectors, the rising influence of developing countries, and containerisation, are creating new shipping environments. These environments show that imperfect competition is only found in parts of the shipping markets nowadays, unlike that in/under the conventional approach to uniformity. Thus, these new economic and political realities call for innovative modifications to the conventional approach and a refocusing of international uniformity towards a limited degree of restriction [limited number of restrictions] of freedom of contract in legal shipping regimes.

This is an Author’s Original Manuscript (AOM)/preprint of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Maritime Policy & Management on 29/03/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03088839.2016.1163430.