船东可反驳的推定责任:《鹿特丹规则》承运人识别推定制度之考察——兼论中国海商法承运人识别制度的发展

Presuming the Registered Shipowner to be the Carrier:Study on the Identification of Carrier under the Rotterdam Rules

联合国最新海运公约《鹿特丹规则》提出开创性设计,规定若无法识别承运人,则推定注册船东为承运人。直接推定船东为承运人有其合理性与历史传统,因此,在一定程度上优于将承运人无法识别时的责任转嫁于托运人的立法思路。观诸航运大国之海商法,或由于承认光船租船条款的效力,或由于承认多个承运人的存在,亦出现了向船东转嫁责任的方法和船东承担连带责任的发展趋势。在中国现行要件主义的承运人识别处理方式下,公约的思路可以为处理具体案件中承运人识别问题提供有借鉴意义的参考。

According to the Rotterdam Rules,if the contract particulars fail to identify the carrier but indicate that the goods have been loaded on board a named ship,the registered owner of the ship is presumed to be the carrier.Presuming the registered ship owner to be the carrier to solve the carriers＇ identity problems is underpinned by reasonability and historical traditions,and therefore may be better than the other way which imposes liability on the shipper when the carrier is not identifiable.Domestic maritime legislations of the main shipping countries show a tendency requiring the registered ship owner to be wholly or jointly liable for the cargo damage.Considering that the carrier-identifying is restricted to claimants＇ sufficient proof in China,the way presuming the registered ship owner to be the carrier when the carrier is not identifiable under the Rotterdam Rules,may be introduced to solve the carrier-identifying issues for reference reason in Chinese maritime judicial practice.