marine engineering

Home page||Ship employment ||


Carriage of goods by sea act 1992 (COGSA 92)

Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1992 (COGSA 92) repeats the Bill of Lading Act 1855 and makes major changes to the law regarding who has the right to sue the carrier and who the carrier can sue for freight, demurrage, etc. Because of uncertainties and anomalies about the wording of the Bill of Lading Act 1855, much legal time and expense had been incurred before the passing of COGSA 92 over the question of who had the right to sue under a bill of lading.

It applies to any bill of lading, sea waybill and ships’ delivery order. And contains powers to enable regulations to be made for the application of the Act to electronic documents.

Section 3 of COGSA 92 lays down guidelines establishing when liabilities under a bill of lading, sea waybill or ship’s delivery order will be transferred to a party who is not an original party to the contract of carriage (i.e. an endorsee or transferee). The party who takes or demands delivery of the goods to which a bill of lading, sea waybill or ship’s delivery order relate becomes subject to the same liabilities as the original shipper.

If delivery is demanded before the bill of lading is transferred (e.g. under a Letter of Indemnity), then once the bill of lading is transferred the holder will become subject to the same liabilities (i.e. the obligation to pay freight, port charges, demurrage. etc.) as the previous holder.

Liabilities are not imposed on third parties who take up shipping documents with no intention of demanding delivery or making a claim under the contract of carriage, e.g. banks taking up the documents as security.

The case of Grant v. Norway (1851) involved a master who had signed a bill of lading for 12 bales of wool which were not in fact shipped. It was held that the carrier was not liable to the receivers since the master did not have authority to sign the bill of lading for goods which had not actually been shipped. Section 4 of COGSA 92 overturns that decision. A bill of lading which represents that goods have been shipped on board or received for shipment will be conclusive evidence of such shipment against the carrier in the hands of a lawful holder of the bill of lading, provided that the bill of lading was signed by the master or a person with the authority of the master. This rule will not apply, however, if the bill of lading has not been transferred (e.g. where cargo is delivered against a Letter of Indemnity where a bill of lading has not arrived).

Section 4 (Representations in bills of lading) provides that a properly signed bill of lading representing goods to have been shipped or received for shipment will, in favour of a person who has become the lawful holder (i.e. a transferee), be conclusive evidence against the carrier of the shipment of the goods or, as the case may be, of their receipt for shipment.

The chief consequences of the Act for carriers are that:

• the number of claims made in tort is likely to be substantially reduced since it is much clearer as to who has the right to claim under the bill of lading; and

• the carrier’s rights of claim or counter-claim against cargo receivers, in addition to the original shippers, are now free from uncertainty.

Read more on :Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1971 (COGSA 71)


Summarized below seagoing cargo ship various employment guide:
  1. Charty party forms

  2. defines the obligations, rights and liabilities of the shipowner and charterer. Recognised standard form (e.g. GENCON, BALTIME, NYPE)
    More .....



    Nature of a time charter
    The charterers agree to hire from the shipowner a named vessel, of specified technical characteristics, for an agreed period of time, for the charterer’s purposes subject to agreed restrictions.
    More .....

  3. Voyage charter advantages

  4. contract for the carriage by a named vessel of a specified quantity of cargo between named ports or places.
    More .....

  5. Terms of Bareboat charter and lease arrangement

  6. The vessel owners put the vessel (without any crew) at the complete disposal of the charterers and pay the capital costs, but (usually) no other costs.
    More .....

  7. Seaworthiness of vessel

  8. A vessel must be fit to encounter the “ordinary perils of the sea” (e.g. bad weather) and other incidental risks to which she will be exposed on the voyage..
    More .....

  9. International trade terms (INCOTERMS) in sea transportation

  10. INCOTERMS is a set of rules, published by the International Chamber of Commerce, for the uniform interpretation of the most commonly used trade terms used in international trade contracts.
    More .....

  11. Money transfer procedure in sea transport

  12. Money transfer system commonly used in overseas trade to enable sellers to obtain early payment, i.e. soon after shipment of the goods.
    More .....

  13. Contract between cargo seller and buyer

  14. The contract of sale between the seller and the buyer of the goods is separate from the contract of carriage which one party or the other, or a third party (such as a freight forwarder), will make with the carrier .
    More .....

  15. Parties involved in sea transportation of goods

  16. Forming links in the transport chain- Sea carrier, Freight forwarder, shipper, consignee,agent & banks
    More .....

  17. Carriage of goods by sea act 1992 (COGSA 92)

  18. Section 3 of COGSA 92 lays down guidelines establishing when liabilities under a bill of lading, sea waybill or ship’s delivery order will be transferred to a party who is not an original party to the contract of carriage (i.e. an endorsee or transferee). The party who takes or demands delivery of the goods to which a bill of lading, sea waybill or ship’s delivery order relate becomes subject to the same liabilities as the original shipper..
    More .....

  19. Laytime interpretation rules

  20. Rules, which were issued jointly by BIMCO, CMI, FONASBA and INTERCARGO, replace the Charter party Laytime Definitions 1980.
    More .....

  21. CIF ( Cost, Insurance and Freight ) used in international trade terms (INCOTERMS)

  22. “CIF” means Cost, Insurance and Freight (paid to a named place), e.g. CIF London.- is a contract based on the discharge port
    More .....

  23. FOB ( free on board ) used in international trade terms (INCOTERMS)

  24. “FOB” means Free On Board (named port of shipment), e.g. “FOB Newcastle NSW”. It is one of the most commonly used term (INCOTERMS) in sales contracts involving sea transportation of goods.
    More .....

  25. Ships employment baltic exchange

  26. Baltic Exchange members undertake to abide by a strict code of business practice, enshrined in the famous Baltic motto “Our Word Our Bond”.
    More .....

  27. Ships charter market place

  28. Most ships employed in the charter markets are dry bulk carriers, tankers, combination carriers (e.g. OBOs), or reefer vessels, although there is also a charter market for container ships and for vessels of various special purpose types
    More .....

  29. Common Chartering abbreviations

  30. Many terms commonly used by shipbrokers and others involved in ship chartering, mainly to save time and effort in communications. Shipmasters may come across many of the acronyms and abbreviations in documents relating to charters, e.g. in telexed voyage orders and market reports..
    More .....

  31. Tanker freight worldscale

  32. "Worldscale" is the code name for the “New Worldwide Tanker Nominal Freight Scale”, published by the Worldscale Association (London) Limited and the Worldscale Association (NYC) Inc
    More .....

Machinery system main info pages

Home page||Cooling ||Machinery||Services ||Valves ||Pumps ||Auxiliary Power ||Propeller shaft ||Steering gears ||Ship stabilizers||Refrigeration||Air conditioning ||Deck machinery||Fire protection||Ship employment ||


Home ||




General Cargo Ship.com provide information on cargo ships various machinery systems -handling procedures, on board safety measures and some basic knowledge of cargo ships that might be useful for people working on board and those who working in the terminal. For any remarks please Contact us


Copyright © 2010-2016 General Cargo Ship.com All rights reserved.
Terms and conditions of use
Read our privacy policy|| Home page||