New row over liability laws

The EC’s plan to develop its own cargo liability rules shows there is no industry-wide support for the proposed Rotterdam Rules, according to the European Shippers’ Council (ESC). ESC secretary general Nicolette van der Jagt said: “This just goes to show that a failure to reach consensus among different trade interests and other organisations on the content of the Rotterdam Rules, and their complexity, will most likely result in a number of multimodal variants being developed around the world.” The ESC said it understood the EC had decided to develop its own legislation because the Rotterdam Rules did not conform to European multimodal expectations.