A responsabilidade civil das partes do contrato de afretamento marítimo de viagens irregulares (tramps) em decorrência dos sinistros marítimos

Abstract

Since ancient times, the maritime ways represent the largest means of transportation of goods among its peoples. This fact persists to the present day, so much so that, according to UNCTAD, this means of transport is used by 80% of goods sold in the world. In this context, maritime law regulates all commercial operations that take place under the domain of the sea. Linked to this branch of international legal science, the maritime charter contract represents the materialization of the way in which maritime transport is operated in the world. This contract is formed between two parties, one that will be obliged to assign the vessel for use by the other one, in which it will use such vessel to explore it commercially. However, as it happens in many contracts, interventions can occur that can cause damage to one of the parties, even more in the maritime environment, whose incidence of accidents and averages are very high, which can cause damage to one of the parties, or to both, or even to third parties. Thus, the research's problem of this dissertation is: How is the civil liability of the parties to the maritime charter contract distributed, in case of complications, accidents or damages caused to the parties and/or to third parties, since the maritime operation represents high risks for these participants? In this sense, the present work focuses on analyzing the legal uncertainty regarding the determination of civil liability of the contractual parties, in case of accidents, claims and breakdowns in general. Thus, given the legal and legislative insecurities that are related to the civil liability of these actors, it is necessary to verify whether the contract is the determining factor to materialize the obligations and rights of the parties to this contract. To be able to overcome such legal uncertainty in the delimitation of civil liabilities, there is the possibility of listing all the obligations of each party in the maritime charter contract itself; in addition, certain international conventions already regulate civil liability in these contracts, as well as the domestic legislation of countries, such as Brazil, also presents legal provisions to regulate civil liability. This dissertation is related to the line of research of international economic law, given that it studies the problems related to contracts that are related to the transnational transport of goods. In addition, the main objective of this work is to demonstrate how the parties to this contract act and assume their respective responsibilities, when any damage occurs that harms both or third parties. To achieve the objectives of this research, a qualitative methodology will be adopted, through national and international bibliographic analyzes on this theme.