班轮货物运输中无船承运人的法律地位

The legal status of non-vessel operators in multi-model carriage of liner trade

集装箱运输不仅将班轮运输推向多式联运,亦使无船承运人取代了传统船东与承租人因取得船舶使用权而具有当然承运人的身份。实践中,现今无船承运人已经签发了95%以上的班轮凭证,在梳理对无船承运人误解的基础上,就无船承运人于海商法的误解提出解释,并总结出修正《中华人民共和国海商法》的必要性。

It used to be Owners who owned ships and Charterers who chartered ships and having the right of usage of ships to be Carriers in liner trade.The non-vessel operators(NVO)have replaced both Owners and Charterers since containerization which developed from about 1960.The NVO is to bear full liabilities throughout the entire period of multi-model carriages as most of sea transport documents are multi-modal transport documentation.NVO are carriers in fact when they issued more than nighty-five percent of current transport documents in liner trade.This article is to clarify the misunderstanding of the industry in the logistic chain and to explain the unavailability of the maritime law in coping with some practices they are operating.It concluded with the necessity of the amendments of Maritime Code of the People’s Republic of China.