The world as we know it from the early formative years, i.e. the introduction of mankind to its ecosystem, to the modern setting has changed tremendously. The biggest and most recognizable change is the growth of the population of earth, which stands at more than 7 billion people, today. One of the most positively impacted aspect of human maturity as a civilization is that of the trade of goods, commodities and movement of services.

The growth of human population and the global demand for necessities dictates trade and the trade routes taken globally together with the mode of movement of goods and commodities together with movement of people in providing services. The most commonly utilized mode for this purpose is provided through air, land and sea transportation.

In this website, we will be focusing on sea transportation together with the types of rules and laws which predominantly dictate the trade practices using sea transportation for such movements as seen above.

The maritime and shipping leg of trade distribution and human movement has become increasingly important since the turn of the early 1900. Maritime and shipping businesses around the globe has scaled up over many folds in the 21^st century.

The importance of sea transportation and movement of goods, commodities and people has also brought about various important conventions, laws and rules to regulate and strike a balance amongst the various stakeholders who have a vested interest in the global welfare of the sea and the habitats it holds for the fisheries and creatures of the vast seas and oceans of the world, on the one hand, as well as the profitable business of sea transportation of goods and commodities together with movement of people, on the other, and the need to cope with the demands of market forces for the survival of humans.

These laws are necessary to keep the equilibrium between the three competing interests mentioned above for a sustainable environment to enable the humans to thrive.

We have herein re-stated the laws covering four key areas governing maritime and shipping practices, namely, Maritime Insurance Law, The Law of the Carriage of Goods by Sea, Admiralty Law and, last but not least, The International Law of the Sea.

As part of our commitment to provide more write ups, we will be adding more areas of law relating to maritime and shipping practices for the benefit of our readers.