Today, sea transportation provides trade between countries as it has a wider geography than other transportation routes. For this reason, maritime trade has become widespread and a number of norms describing the conditions, risks and dispute resolution methods of maritime trade have been needed. The regulation on maritime trade in Turkish law is made by the Turkish Commercial Code.
Regulations on international maritime trade have been made through various contracts. These contracts;
1924 Brussels Convention: The bill of lading was first regulated within the scope of a multilateral international agreement with the "International Convention on the Integration of Certain Rules of Respect to Bill of Lading" signed in Brussels. The Brussels Convention is known in practice as the "Hague Rules".
1968 Visby Protocol: The Brussels Rules were revised with a protocol and started to be known as the "Hague-Visby Rules".
1978 Hamburg Convention: The United Nations Convention on the Carriage of Sea by the initiative of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), on 1 November 1992 entered into force. It has not yet been approved by Turkey.
2009 Rotterdam Convention: "The United Nations Treaty on Conventions for the International Carriage of Goods by Sea, in whole or in part". It has not yet been approved by Turkey.
Apart from these, some institutions are also important elements in international maritime trade practices.
International Maritime Organization / IMO: It held its first meeting in 1959 with the name of "Intergovernmental Maritime Advisory Organization". It got its present name in 1982. His area of responsibility is to provide safety and security in international maritime transport and to take measures to improve them; In addition, there are issues such as preventing environmental pollution and making legislative arrangements to ease international ship traffic.
ICC International Maritime Bureau: This office is the unit of the International Chamber of Commerce ICC, which has a very active position in international trade. It operates and develops recommendations on maritime crimes such as corruption, misconduct and piracy in the maritime sector.
BIMCO – The Baltic and International Maritime Council: It is the largest maritime transport organization in the world. It was founded in 1905. It operates in order to standardize maritime transport practices, to move the maritime industry to higher levels around the world, and to ensure smooth international trade.
All goods transported by sea are called freight. Making this transportation in return for a price is called Freight Contract. If the whole or a certain part of the ship is allocated to the charterer, it is called the Voyage Charter Contract, and the transportation of a certain amount of goods on the ship without the entire ship being allocated to the charterer is called the Kirkambar Agreement. In addition, the contract made for the allocation of the ship and the transportation of the cargo for a certain period of time is called the Time Charter Contract.
Freight Contracts
Freight Contracts are contracts that include the commitment to transport cargo by sea. There is a carrier on one side and the shipper on the other side. The contract, which imposes a debt on both sides, is not subject to any form.
The Freight Contract includes a commitment to carriage. Transportation must be done by sea. The point where the transportation will start is called the loading port and the point where the transportation will end is the arrival port. The cargo is received from the shipper at the loading port and delivered to the shipper at the unloading port.
The subject of the commitment to transport should be freight. However, it is not necessary that the cargo has been determined at the time of the freight contract.
Freight is the price to be paid for the transportation of the freight.
Kırkambar Agreement
The Kırkhambar Agreement is a contract to be applied in cases where the sole purpose of the shipper is to send the goods. The shipper requests the transportation of the goods by paying the fee, and the carrier undertakes the transportation of the goods. In these contracts, the carrier undertakes that it will only transport its loads to the shipper.
Voyage Charter Contract
According to the Travel Charter Agreement, the ship is allocated for one or more voyages for the carriage of the shipper's cargo. Freight calculation is calculated by taking these trips into account. The shipper has no authority to plan and manage the voyages of the ship.
Time Charter Contract
Time Charter Contracts are contracts in which the ship is held for a certain period of time and the freight is determined on the basis of the time element. Allocates the carrier ship to carry the cargo of the carrier for a certain period of time. The carrier is obliged to keep the ship suitable for sea and road, but there is no obligation to load suitability.