Within the context of these three periods, I shall seek to explain some of the main responsibilities and liabilities of shippers or cargo interests on the one hand and shipowners on the other.

It is probably true to say that the advent of cargo carrying systems such as refrigerated containers has been a cause of the ocean carrier undertaking far greater responsibilities than was the situation many years ago. In the (distant) past nearly all cargo, including refrigerated cargo, was carried on a port-to-port basis, i.e. it was accepted direct at the load port and loaded on board and discharged and delivered direct at the discharge port. The position now, with the advent of refrigerated containers, is that the receipt and final delivery can both take place at points distant from the wharf and that the ocean carrier may have responsibility for the cargo over a much longer period of time. Many of the “new” problems that have emerged through the introduction of this type of shipment are dealt with in the wider provisions found in Combined Transport Bills of Lading.