Shipping 2026

SWEDEN Law and Practice Contributed by: Michele Fara, Ninos Aho, Paula Bäckdén and Anders Leissner, Advokatfirman Vinge KB

that are not in conflict with the Hague-Visby Rules have been implemented. As for the Rotterdam Rules, Sweden has signed but not yet ratified the Convention. Sweden is also a party to the Convention on the Con - tract for the International Carriage of Goods by Road, 1956 (the “CMR Convention”), which may be applica - ble to transport by sea. 4.2 Title to Sue on a Bill of Lading Under Swedish maritime law, the lawful holder of the bill of lading has title to sue thereunder. Apart from the original shipper or consignee, a third party, to whom the bill of lading has been endorsed, is also consid - ered the lawful holder. An insurer, insofar as the damage is covered by the insurance and has been compensated by the insurer, becomes subrogated to the insured’s right to com - pensation for damages arising from the damage. The insurer will, in such case, be entitled to sue under the bill of lading. Moreover, according to general principles of Swedish law, a party is free to assign its claim for damages to any other person, and the title to sue will essentially follow the rightful holder of the assigned claim. In this context, it may be noted that under Swedish law, unlike in some other jurisdictions, the question of title to sue is not a procedural issue, but a substantive one. 4.3 Ship-Owners’ Liability and Limitation of Liability for Cargo Damages The ship-owner is liable for loss or damage that the Master, members of the crew or a pilot cause through fault or neglect in the performance of their duties. Fur - ther, the ship-owner is liable if the loss or damage is caused by any other person while performing work in the vessel’s service on the direction of the ship-owner or Master (Chapter 7 of the Swedish Maritime Code (1994:1009)). Provisions on the carrier’s liability for damaged goods are found in Chapter 13 of the Swedish Maritime Code. The Code defines the carrier as the person who enters into a contract with a sender for the carriage

of general cargo by sea – ie, the contractual carrier. The ship-owner may, however, also incur liability as the actual carrier of the goods without having entered into any contract with the cargo interests (eg, in its capacity as a subcarrier). The mandatory liability will in general not differ depending on whether ship-owners cause damage in their capacity as contractual or actu - al carriers. The main rule regarding liability for cargo damage is that the carrier is liable for damage result - ing from the goods being lost or damaged while in its custody. The carrier may, however, be exempt from liability if it proves that the loss or damage is caused by navigational errors or fire not caused by personal fault or neglect. The carrier’s liability can be limited to 667 Special Drawing Rights (SDR) per unit or, if the liability thereby is higher, 2 SDR per kilo of the gross weight of the goods (the SDR is an international reserve asset creat - ed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) based on the value of a basket of currencies). The right of limita - tion is lost if the carrier is proven to have caused the damage or loss with intent, or recklessly with knowl - edge that such damage or loss would probably occur. The ship-owner can further limit its liability regard - ing claims on account of damage to property if the damage occurred on board the vessel or in immediate connection with her operation, or with salvage opera - tions (global limitation). 4.4 Misdeclaration of Cargo The shipper has a strict liability towards the carrier regarding the correctness of the statements relating to the goods inserted in the bill of lading. Regard - ing carriage of dangerous goods, the shipper is not only liable towards the carrier, but also towards any subcarrier. The shipper is obliged to inform the car - rier about the dangerous nature of the goods and any necessary safety measures. Failure to do so may give the carrier the right to discharge or destroy the goods without liability for paying any compensation. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, shippers’ mis - declaration of cargo has not been tried in any recent case law of material significance.

598 CHAMBERS.COM