On August 31, 1986, the cargo ship Khian Sea, registered in Liberia, was loaded with more than 14,000 tons of non-toxic ash from waste incinerators in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The city had previously sent such waste to New Jersey, but that state refused to accept any more after 1984. The company handling the waste (Joseph Paolino and Sons) subcontracted shipment to Amalgamated ...

A container ship travels the equivalent of three-quarters of the way to the moon and back in one year during its regular travel across the oceans.

For hundreds of years, written contracts covering the leasing of a ship have been known as “charter parties.” The term “charter party” derives from the Medieval Latin phrase “carta partita,” meaning “divided document.” To ensure the authenticity of a document, it was customary to execute the contract two times on the same piece of paper and then to tear it into ...