organizing two highly qualitative and successful Maritime Law Seminars for Judges of the Superior Court of Judicature of Ghana, the Ghana Shippers Council received repeated calls from several operators in the maritime transport and international trade sectors of Ghana who may not have had the opportunity to join the learned members of the Bench at the previous seminars.

In response to these calls the Ghana Shippers Council organized a Maritime Law and International Trade Conference in Accra on April 5 and 6, 2006 for major operators in Ghana’s international trade business, and this tuned out to be a resounding success.

This book is a compilation of the presentations made at the Conference which witnessed the participation of the players in the high echelons of industry such as shippers, freight forwarders/clearing agents, port and terminal operators, hauliers, bankers, insurance executive, lawyers, ship agents and shipowners.

International transport of goods, with a sea link, involves complicated operations, and indeed many technical and legal requirements have to be fulfilled. The issues of packaging and storage, the terms of shipment, the cost of transportation, delivery schedules, contract terms and arrangements etc. are very important and quite complex too. Equally important are the documentation and procedures, domestic and foreign laws, and international conventions relating to the sale, terms of payment and carriage of goods by sea. These also include the roles and responsibilities of the carrier and the shipper as well as their respective agents.

In this milieu, Ghana can only benefit from its international trade relations, and indeed become competitive, if its major actors in these operations are kept abreast of the dynamics of current international trade and maritime transport practices. The imperatives for a ready reference guide thus become compelling.

The Conference presented an array of speakers, specialized in their various field of endeavour, to address the complex issue of the intrinsic relationship between maritime law and international trade with a view to helping to develop the competitiveness of the shipper in Ghana in international trade transactions.
The form and content of presentations in this compilation make it a useful material for any practitioner, operator or researcher who seeks a practical grasp of issues relating to international trade and maritime law.

The topics were not only well thought-out, but also carefully couched to address the yawning gap between theory and practice which has been the yearning desire of many an industry player.

This publication therefore covers topics such as – Making Business Sense of Contracts of Affreightments - Marine Insurance Claims: Understanding the Concepts and Tackling the Issues, - The Freight Factor in Maritime Transportation: Some Critical Lessons for Competitiveness, and – Understanding Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the Uniform Customs and Practice in Documentary Credits.

This book is most highly recommended to the maritime transport/law, international trade, and related practitioners in Ghana. Students, lawyers, judges, researchers and consultants will also find this piece very useful. It will also be found useful by others in other jurisdictions who have something to do with international trade and transportation with a sea link.

It is my earnest hope that this book fills a vacuum in maritime and international trade scholarship and practice in Ghana. Indeed with such a good selection of topics and speakers, it truly deserves a special place in the library of every international trade and maritime law practitioner.

Dr. J L S Abbey
Executive Director, Centre for Policy Analysis (CEPA)