THIS refers to the letter 'Sea Bill 2011:neocon approach'(Jan10)by Mazhar Imtiaz Lari. While I agree with Mr Lari's suggestion that our legislature should not pass the Carriage of Goods by Sea Bill 2011, my reasons for such a recommendation are quite different. The Hague Visby Rules and Hamburg Rules are both now obsolete and are soon going to be replaced by the Rotterdam Rules which were drafted after 10 years of deliberations while the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law was signed by 20 nations in September 2010 and after being ratified they will become law.So far only Spain has ratified the Rotterdam Rules and other maritime countries are expected to follow suit. It is expected that Rotterdam Rules will become law by the end of December 2012.

Twenty countries signed the convention in 2008, while so far only one country ratified it. Twenty countries are required to ratify the convention before it becomes a law. The major benefit for Pakistan from the Rotterdam Rules is a good legal system for multimodal transport. It will significantly increase and erode some of the traditional defences available to sea carriers of cargo such as elimination of nautical fault.In future, Rotterdam Rules will make provision for electronic commerce, greater freedom of contract in liner trade.

Rotterdam Rules generally safeguard the interests of carriers.

About 80 per cent of all multimodal cargo has a sea-leg. An international group of P&I Club has supported ratification of Rotterdam Rules. The concept of multimodal transport produces the most economical and efficient means of moving goods. Greatest economies are achieved when multimodal transport is used within dedicated freight carriers.

Pakistan has organised two conferences of the InternationalMultimodal Transport Association in Karachi on Rotterdam Rules in 2011, attended by many trade, shipping, ports, stevedoring companies, terminal operators and P&I Club representatives, who put forward their respective opinions eloquently. The consensus was that Pakistan should be urged to ratify the Rotterdam Rules immediately.

I would recommend that our National Assembly should not waste further time by deliberating on obsolete Carriage of Goods by Sea, Hague Visby Rules and Hamburg Rules, and recommend to the government to ratify the Rotterdam Rules.

CAPT RAFFAT ZAHEER Honorary Secretary (Geneva) & Country Representative (Pakistan) International Multimodal Transport Association Via e-mail