Comparison of problems related to the carriage of goods by sea between traditional and autonomous vessels

When performing the carriage of goods by sea, each contracting party, shipowner and charterer, has a number of rights and obligations. In legal sources which regulate carriage of goods by sea, in particular contracts concluded between parties, international conventions and national laws, standard clause is shipowner's obligation to provide a seaworthy vessel. Such obligation implies that the vessel must be able to carry and keep the contracted cargo in good condition and also have required number of qualified crew. On the other side, charterer's obligation is to order the vessel to sail to ports/berths which are considered safe (safe port warranty). Also, legal sources of carriage of goods by sea regulate liability issues for loading and discharging operations, the limitation of the shipowner’s liability and application of provisions related to exclusion of liability. All of the above represent important rights and obligations of the regulation of the carriage of goods by sea, and so regulated thus far have been common in the carriage of goods by sea by traditional vessels. However, the question that arises is how the problems related to the carriage of goods by sea will be regulated when such carriage is performed by autonomous vessels. In other words, there is a question about interpretation of the provisions of seaworthiness, safe port warranty, liability and the limitation of the shipowner’s liability and exclusion of liability in the carriage of goods by sea by autonomous ships. The purpose of this paper is comparison of problems related to the carriage of goods by sea between the traditional and autonomous vessels, and regarding the regulation of seaworthiness, safe port warranty, liability, the limitation of the shipowner’s liability and exclusion of liability. The results of this comparison lead to the conclusion that reconsideration of the content of the listed terms is needed when we are talking about carriage of goods by sea by autonomous vessels.