Fripassagerare - En studie av lagar och regler och hur ansvaret fördelas mellan de inblandade.

Abstract

Stowaways are people who are placing themselves and others at great risk when they unlawfully embark vessels. They are mostly found on container vessels and the greatest problems exist in West Africa where the majority of these embarkations occur. Stowaways generate increasing expenses for the parties involved in terms of repatriation costs and temporary living expenses. In addition to these actual costs, the stowaway causes loss of time and constitutes a mental strain on the crew of the afflicted vessel. This thesis has examined the laws and regulations governing the handling of stowaways in the maritime sector and what agreements and other available possibilities exist in order to limit liability. This is done in order to help those who come in contact with stowaways to handle situations which can arise. The method of this thesis has mainly consisted of literature studies of laws, rules and guidelines. The thesis also includes three case studies. These are real cases that are intended to give the reader a sense of realism, highlighting the difficulties and showing in what ways the laws are applied in reality. There are a number of international organizations that have developed conventions and regulations concerning stowaways, such as IMO, UNHCR, FAL Convention and the ISPS Code. Furthermore, there are a number of laws applicable to stowaways in the Swedish legislation. These rules results in a clear framework of how vessel security should be structured in order to prevent stowaways from embarking and how they should be treated when an incident has occurred. To allocate responsibility between ship owners and charterers regarding stowaways, BIMCO has designed a standard clause that can be used in charter agreements at sea. To protect oneself against the costs arising from this responsibility, a P&I insurance is required. To obtain the recovery amount from the insurance company the insured party is required to have followed the imposed rules and requirements, both by law and according to insurance terms. This report is written in Swedish.