Maritime Article Archives

Proposed Amendments To COGSA Would Abolish $500 Package Limitation

October, 2000

The proposed amendments to the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act (“COGSA”), which were drafted with the assistance of the Maritime Law Association of the United States, will also be before Congress in 2000.

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Passenger Ship Convention Sidetracked/Bunker Pollution Convention Prioritized

August, 2000

In the last issue of The Quartermaster we mentioned that the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Legal Committee was scheduled to meet in October of this year and would attempt to implement a Draft Protocol amending the 1974 Athens Convention Relating to the Carriage of Passengers and their Luggage by Sea. Leading up to that meeting the Draft Protocol was nearly complete and it appeared that it would be the first priority of the Legal Committee. However, early in the course of the meeting it became apparent that consensus could not be reached on a number of important items, and, as a result, the Draft Protocol was taken off the Legal Committee’s number one priority status.

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New Funding To Be Made Available For U.S. Flag Vessel Construction

July, 2000

Early in November, 1999, Representatives McCrery (R-La.) and Jefferson (D-La) in the House joined Sen. John Breaux (D-La) to sponsor new legislation that would change U.S. tax laws to liberalize the use of the Capital Construction Fund by U.S. flag operators not only to fund new ship construction in U.S. shipyards, but also to lease…

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New Funding Source Proposed For Dredging

June, 2000

Ever since the Supreme Court held that the Harbor Maintenance Tax on exports to be unconstitutional in United States v. United States Shoe Corporation, ___ U.S. ___, 118 S.Ct. 1290, 140 L.Ed2d 453 (1998), Congress has grappled with finding an alternative means to fund maintenance dredging of the nation’s harbors. In the last Congress, a…

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