Are current port liability provisions in international maritime law adequate in an era of automation?

ABSTRACT

Automation is changing the traditional ports as we know it. The introduction of podded drive propulsion systems, self-unloading bulk carriers, and increasing use of automation in port operations are indicative of a technological paradigm shift in which the human element becomes increasing devalued potentially creating legal conundrums in traditional notions of obligations and liabilities. Many ‘relational’ difficulties attend the interaction between law and technology. This is often exacerbated when laws obstinately remain stationary and fail to anticipate potential legal quagmires. The nature of current and emergent technology in ports may distort extant international maritime law notions of obligations and liabilities diminishing their utility or worse rendering them otiose. Giving the status of ports as enablers of global economic growth, the rapid growth of automation in ports, and the utility of international maritime law in prescribing consensus-driven international legal norms and rules for ports, it is important to examine how extant international maritime law rules on port operations hold up in automated ports. Thus this paper employs a legal doctrinal approach to critically evaluate major obligations and liability provisions on international maritime law and suggest ways in which these provisions can flow with the ‘technological tide’ of increasing automation.

Acknowledgment

The author would like to thank Dr Shu-Ling (Peggy) Chen of the Maritime and Logistics Management Department, National Centre for Ports and Shipping, Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania for reading through the earliest draft of this article and making some suggestions for improvements.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Isaiah Okorie is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the National Centre for Ports and Shipping, Australian Maritime College, University of Tasmania. He holds an LL.B (First Class Honours) degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria; an LL.M degree in Maritime Law from the National University of Singapore (NUS); and an LL.M in Global Business Law from New York University (NYU).