ABSTRACT
Maritime transport plays a significant part in international trade. With the parties situated in different countries, physical delivery of the goods does not happen directly between seller and buyer, but rather with a carrier as “middleman”. Thus in its most simple form, the sold goods are handed over from the seller to a carrier who in turn hands them over to the buyer. From a business perspective this raises several practical and legal questions. Who has to procure and pay for the carriage of the goods? When does the risk for and property in the goods pass from seller to buyer? Who controls the goods while they are in transit? Who can claim them from the carrier and how is the simultaneous exchange of the goods and the purchase price ensured, that is how is it ensured that the goods are not handed over to the buyer without payment of the purchase price when the seller is not in physical possession of the goods? Such issues are of utmost importance in the sales contract relationship. It is in this context that the contract of carriage and the law regulating it must function.
