Comparative study of American maritime legal framework and maritime trafecta of Pakistan in the light of shipping laws.

Abstract

The maritime regime of any country holds profound importance in its national development and maintaining trade relationship with other countries. Pakistan is one of those countries who hold significant strategic importance in terms of maritime trade. With the influx of CPEC projects in Pakistan, it is need of the hour that the legal regime and infrastructure of Pakistan be analyzed. It is therefore important to conduct research and find loopholes in the prevailing shipping laws of Pakistan. However, in order to determine the caveats in the laws it is important to draw a comparison with another country that is excelling in the shipping regime. In this regard, United States of America (U.S.) has been selected for the comparative study. By applying the qualitative and descriptive research methodology the fundamental aspects of shipping laws in Pakistan are outlined, in order to determine what the legal standing of Pakistan is in the shipping regime. Furthermore, in order to attain the objective of highlighting caveats in the domestic shipping laws of Pakistan a comparison is made with the U.S. shipping laws by applying the comparative research methodology. Lastly, it is also significant to highlight the efficacy of Pakistan shipping industry in terms of handling issues that may arise out of CPEC and to therefore conclude that whether domestic maritime law is a “good law”. This research found that Pakistan does not have a unified shipping regulatory framework as compared to the U.S. The maritime sector of Pakistan is regulated by different regulatory and legal frameworks as compared to U.S., who has learned from its past experiences and now has a unified regulatory framework. The implementation of already existing laws in Pakistan is also weak as compared to U.S. shipping laws and lastly, in the wake of CPEC, it is found that Pakistan lacks adequate shipping infrastructure and therefore, requires development in its shipping industry.