Loss-prevention booklet explains liability conventions

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 8/1/2000

TT Club, an organization that provides liability and equipment insurance to ocean carriers and other maritime interests, has published the Handbook on Conventions for the International Carriage of Goods and Transport Conditions, the third booklet in its loss-prevention series. The booklet looks at how transport operators' liabilities are affected under various international cargo-liability conventions and trading conditions.

The guide aims to provide straightforward answers in plain English to a series of common questions, according to John Nicholls, TT Club's director of loss prevention. It answers frequently asked questions under the terms of nine different conventions and trading conditions, including the Warsaw Convention (1929), BIFA Conditions (1989/2000), and the Hague-Visby Rules (1968).

The guide applies 12 questions to each convention/trading condition. These questions cover such topics as the modes of transport applicable for a convention or condition, who can make a claim against the operator, time limits on the claimant's right to sue, and when and how the claimant must notify the carrier of a loss.

The Handbook on Conventions for the International Carriage of Goods and Transport Conditions can be viewed as a .pdf file on TT Club's Web site (www.ttclub.com).