二手船买卖中使用标准的格式合同

　　编者按：

　　魏长庚船长简介：出生于河南商丘睢县，1996-2000 年在大连海事大学学习，获得航海技术专业学士学位。具有16年海上船舶航行经验，做过7条船(包括20多万吨的Cape size船舶)远洋船长，目前任职于华洋海事中心。魏长庚船长一直热爱海商法（重点是英国海商法）的学习，并致力海商法的翻译工作（包括Informa出版的Bill of Lading（提单），Laytime and Demurrage（装卸时间与滞期费）等书籍。

　　本次推送由 CMCLR 执行编辑，伦敦大学学院2018届LLM朱霁康进行编辑与审校。


　　船舶买卖合同的约因与对价

　　4.5 THE USE OF STANDARD FORMS IN SECONDHAND SHIP SALES

　　4.5 在二手船买卖中使用标准的格式合同

　　4.5.1 The value of standard forms 4.5.1标准格式的价值

　　One of the main attractions of a well-drafted standard form will be that, if used intelligently, the form will save the parties from going to the trouble and expense of reinventing what may be a relatively complex commercial and legal relationship. For, in addition to setting out the essential commercial elements of a straightforward deal, a good standard form will also contain essential legal components which might be overlooked where the contract is not prepared by an experienced draughtsman.

　　其中精心拟定的标准格式的一个主要魅力是，如果使用得巧妙，这种格式合同将会使合同双方免于重新构造一个相对复杂的商业和法律关系所带来的麻烦和费用。对于一个高水准的标准格式，除了列明公平交易的一些根本的商业要素之外，还包含一些至关重要的法律组成部分，如果该合同不是具有经验的起草人提供的，有可能会遗漏掉这些要素。

　　However, standard forms do have their limitations. For example, while a standard form may serve as a useful starting point for a straightforward deal, in many cases fine tuning (and, occasionally, substantial variation) will be necessary in order to adapt the general scheme of the standard form to the particular circumstances of the transaction in question.

　　然而，标准格式也有其局限性。例如，标准的格式合同可以作为一个公平交易谈判的有益的起点，在很多情况下细微的调整（偶尔也有大幅度的改变）将是有必要的，以使标准格式的总体方案能够适应所争议的交易的特殊情况。

　　4.5.2 Tension with the standard forms 4.5.2 与标准格式合同的紧张关系

　　A recurring source of tension in second-hand ship sales stems from the fact that the parties will be approaching the transaction from opposing positions. Although the seller may not articulate its approach in quite these terms, the seller's line will often be to the effect that:
　　

• this is a second-hand ship, so the buyer must be realistic about her physical state and must accept that she will not be in the mint condition and working order of a newly built ship;
  　　
• the buyer must decide, on the basis of its physical inspection of the ship and her class records, whether or not to purchase the ship; if the buyer decides to purchase the ship, then it must accept her “as is” subject to certain limited exceptions; and
  　　
• since the ship will be delivered “as is” (subject to certain limited exceptions), essentially the transaction will involve the sale of paper — meaning sellers' title (represented by the bill of sale), the ship's classification (represented by the Class confirmation certificate) and the ship's operational documents (represented by her trading certificates).
  　　

　　在二手船买卖交易过程中，不断出现的紧张关系是来源于，合同双方是从相互敌对的立场处理买卖交易这一事实。虽然卖方可能无法使用这些条款以彻底阐明其观点，其卖方观点往往大意是说：
　　

1. 这是二手船舶，所以买方必须现实地看待她的实际状况，并必须接受，她将不再是一艘处于完好无损和良好工作状态的新建船舶；
   　　
2. 买方必须决定，依据对该船舶的实际检查和船级记录的检查，是否购买该船舶；如果买家决定购买该船，那么，他必须接受她的‘现状’除非某些除外情况；
   　　
3. 既然船舶是‘按现状’进行交付（取决于某些除外情况），本质上，该交易还将包括书面文件的交易——意思是，卖方的主权（由卖据表示），船舶的船级证明（由船级社的确认证明表示）和船舶的营运证件（由船舶贸易单证表示）。
   
   

　　In contrast the buyer will often contend that it is buying steel as well as paper, and it will emphasise that:
　　

• the buyer may place only limited reliance on the results of class record inspections;
  　　
• the buyer will have limited opportunities to inspect the ship before making the contract, or between contract signature and delivery; and
  　
• in the usual case, the seller will be under no legal duty to make any form of disclosure to the buyer about problems or defects in the ship.
  　　

　　相比之下，买方往往会争辩说，他购买的是钢铁船舶，还有单证，因此强调说：
　　

1. 买方的地位可能仅限于依赖船级记录检查的结果；
   　　
2. 在订立合同之前，或，合同签署后至交船期间，买家将仅有有限的机会去检查该船舶；
   　　
3. 在通常情况下，卖方没有任何法律义务将船舶的有关问题或缺陷向买方作出任何形式的披露。
   
   

　　The buyer may therefore say that as the standard terms of Saleform, Nipponsale and SSF2011 do not give it adequate protection against the risks which it will run when buying a second-hand ship, it is both fair and necessary for the buyer to be able to correct the imbalance by negotiated amendments to the printed terms of those standard forms.

　　因此，买方可能说，由于Saleform格式，Nipponsale格式和SSF2011格式的标准条款并不能对其购买二手船舶所面临的风险给予他足够的保护，对买方来说，通过协商修改这些标准格式的印就条款以纠正这种不均衡的现象，既是公平的，又是必要的。

　　It will never be possible for either party to a contract for the sale of second-hand tonnage to achieve a zero-risk position. But if the parties take the time first to identify their main contract risks and second to consider how best to exclude or limit or otherwise control those risks, they will at least be taking steps in the right direction. This is an important issue because parties often seem to pay scant attention to the allocation and handling of contract risks. Buyers, in particular, should be slow to accept the stock response “not market practice” when they are seeking to persuade sellers to accept reasonable modifications to one of the standard form contracts.

　　对于二手船舶买卖的任何合同一方来说，要达到零风险的位置是永远不可能的。但是，如果合同双方当事人，首先，愿意花时间去辨别他们的主合约存在的风险，然后，再去认真考虑如何才能最好的排除或限制或以其他方式控制这些风险，他们至少在正确的方向上迈出了一大步。这个问题非常重要，因为合同双方似乎往往不太重视合同风险的分配和掌控。尤其是买方，当他们试图说服卖方接受对一个标准格式合同进行合理的修改时，不应当仓促接受‘非市场行为’的航运市场震荡的反应（双方优势相对变化）。

　　海运圈聚焦专栏作者 魏长庚船长（微信号CaptWei）