Opinion ID: 364887
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: time charters generally/division of cogsa carrier's duties

Text: 21 The duties and liabilities of owners and charterers as against each other are established by each vessel's charter. Under a time charter, the charterer and owner share duties for the carriage of goods for a specified time. The commercial objective of such a charter is to divide the duties for navigation and seaworthiness of the ship and for the handling of cargo among the owner and charterer, with the expectation that both will benefit from the vessel's earnings. In dividing the duties, the parties ultimately divide the liabilities for the loss of cargo and for notice of its condition when accepted for loading, all according to which party agreed to perform the duty that gives rise to the loss or to notice of that condition. Bauer, Responsibilities of Owner and Charterer to Third Parties Consequences Under Time and Voyage Charters, 49 Tul.L.R. 995, 1004 (1975). See Nichimen Co. v. M. V. Farland, 462 F.2d 319, 330-34 (2nd Cir. 1972). As explained by Judge Hough in The Santona, in a time charter context, 22 The ship is the owner's ship, and the master and crew his servants for all details of navigation and care of the vessel; but for all matters relating to the receipt and delivery of cargo, and to those earnings of the vessel which flow into the pockets of the charterers, the master and crew are the servants of the charterers. 23 Clyde Commercial S. S., Ltd. v. United States Shipping Co. (The Santona ), 152 F. 516, 518 (S.D.N.Y.1907). Given such an agreed division of responsibilities between the owner and charterer, the authority of the master varies in each of his undertakings according to the interest of the party who assumed responsibility for his activity. 24 The master's traditional authority over cargo and bills of lading has changed significantly with changing modes of commerce. 25 The ordinary authority of a master has lessened very much in modern times. Modern methods of communication have enabled the owner to perform much of the master's work in foreign ports. The system of printed bills of lading and the extensive development of regular lines of vessels, with their accompanying agents and branches abroad, have converted the master into little more than the chief navigator of the ship. In the ports of loading and discharge he has commonly very little to do, and, though on the voyage the necessity of the case may confer on him considerable power, increased facilities of communication have much diminished the cases where, not being able to communicate with his owners, such necessity arises. The cases must therefore be read subject to the proviso that the position of the master has materially altered of late years; the master has been superseded partly by the owner and partly by the broker and the broker's or master's authority is usually strictly defined by the printed bill of lading. (Notations omitted) 26 Scrutton Art. 19 at 37. 27 The authority of the masters of the two container vessels which carried plaintiff's damaged goods comports with this general assessment of a modern-day master's authority for cargo and bills of lading. 28